Marsabit residents protest over persistent power outage

Marsabit,

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

KNA by Sebastian Miriti

Marsabit town and its environs have been plunged into a total power blackout after generators at the local Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) power station broke down.

Consequently, thousands of residents, offices, and businesses have been starved of electricity prompting day-long demonstrations in the town by residents over the persistent power outages which have now worsened.

The peaceful demonstrators led by members of the county assembly (MCA) and local leaders appealed to President William Ruto to personally address the problem saying their attempts to have the matter solved by both the Ministry of Energy and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) have failed to bear fruits.

The protesters who also handed a written protest statement to the Marsabit county commissioner and the KPLC management complained of business losses and rise in crime and now want the government to connect them to the national grid.

The chairman of the county assembly committee on energy Jack Elisha accused the KPLC of being insensitive to the plight of local residents saying the plunging of the town and its environs into total darkness has denied them business and services.

Mr Elisha said that residents were going without essential medical and government services while hundreds of traders like salons, barbers, garages, and welding operators have been driven out of business.

Local operators of hotels and restaurants have also not been spared by the blackout with pharmacists complaining of refrigerated drugs going to waste.

Electricity supplied by KPLC in Marsabit County save for the border town of Moyale which is supplied on the grid by power imported from Ethiopia, is largely off-grid.

The aged generators, some reportedly installed more than three decades ago are reportedly unserviceable and can hardly cope with the power demand for a population of 70,000 plus people in the fast-growing town.   

Marsabit is a busy transit town located following the completion of the tarmacking of the LAPSET corridor linked to the Moyale –Isiolo highway.

The chairperson of the local SUPKEM branch Jillo Falana and the chairman of the Marsabit Chamber of Commerce and Industry Juma Boru pointed out that students who are candidates in the forthcoming national examinations are not able to adequately prepare for the exercise.  

Mr Falana who is also a former member of parliament for the Saku constituency noted that efficient supply from the old generators cannot be guaranteed with the lack of power impacting negatively on the socio-economic development of the local people.

“We are talking of loss of business and income in terms of millions here because operations have ground to a halt,” said Mr Boru adding that perishable goods that normally require refrigeration have spoilt.

The leaders said that they would assist residents and traders whose electronic gadgets and goods have been damaged following the outages in seeking compensation from KPLC.

Peaceful demonstrations would also be held weekly until the power supply challenge is effectively addressed.

A senior Assistant County Commissioner Festus Chepkwony while receiving the petition on behalf of CC Nobert Komora assured the residents that their concerns would be escalated to Nairobi for action.

He commended the residents for being orderly and peaceful during the demonstration.

A statement by KPLC said that the company has transported a generator with a 500 KVA capacity from Moyale to boost the generation capacity at the Marsabit power station as the technical personnel worked round the clock to repair the faulty ones.

 “The company is committed to restoring normalcy within the shortest time possible,” KPLC said in the statement.

Meanwhile, the company is working with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum on modalities of connecting Marsabit to the grid so as to provide a permanent solution to the power supply challenges to the town, which is also the county headquarters.

Ironically, Marsabit County is the host to the largest wind power farm in Africa, the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) with a generation capacity of 310 MW of clean renewable energy to the national grid.

Courtesy; KNA