Ruto's new directive towards preventing blackouts

By Peter Ochieng

President William Ruto on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Energy to effectively deal with the challenge of blackouts.

The ministry led by Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir has been the 'talk of town' due to frequent power failures.

The latest blackout occured on Sunday, with key government installations such as the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and hospitals being adversely affected.

Ruto on Wednesday chaired a Cabinet meeting where he expressed his dissapointment with the frequent blackouts, the Sunday one being the third in four months.

He said frequent power outages were hurting Kenya’s investment profile.

However, during the past two nationwide outages in August and November, Ruto did not say a word, at least publicly.

According to a despatch from State House, the Cabinet discussed the matter on power failure extensively, and resolved that the transmission line system should be unbundled so that power failure in one part does not affect the entire country.

It was decided that the Bomet-Narok line will be built with Sh66 billion from the African Development Bank (ADB).

Additionally, a Sh200 billion KenGen solar power project at the Seven Forks Dam will provide a safeguard against power failure.

On the ongoing El Nino rains, the Cabinet was briefed on the government's response in mitigating the effects of floods.

The Cabinet was informed that the national government is working with counties, the Kenya Red Cross Society, and other humanitarian organizations to provide food and non food items, rescue, and relocation of displaced people.

The Cabinet also discussed various papers, including the National Agricultural Insurance Policy, the National Extension Services Policy, the Draft Languages of Kenya Policy, the National Forest Policy, and the Commuter Rail Improvement and the Food Systems Resilience Project.