Senator calls for sacking of inept officials in energy sector

Nyeri,

Thursday, December 14, 2023

KNA by Samuel Maina

Nyeri Senator Wahome Wamatinga has called for a total overhaul in the energy sector to address the high cost of fuel plaguing Kenyans.

 The lawmaker who doubles as the Energy Committee chair in the Senate has similarly said they will soon table a list of top government officials in the energy docket who are involved in high-end graft.

Wamatinga argued that it was unacceptable for Kenyans to be facing frequent blackouts at a time when the country’s five hydroelectric power dams are almost full to breaking point.

“The Kenya Power company is recording 26 percent losses due to incompetence among those who have been entrusted to manage the power utility firm. We have individuals who serve at the top management levels in our energy firms who feel they are well-connected and therefore answerable to no one for their misdeeds. We are planning to table the list of these people before the Senate and demand their sacking with immediate effect. We will also ask the President not to transfer such officials to other dockets but just sack them. We should never again transfer problems from one office to another,” he said during an interview on Kameme TV this morning.

On Sunday night a massive power blackout hit the country paralyzing critical operations including services at the busy Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The countrywide outage began around 8 pm and was the third national power supply failure in three months.

Kenya Power attributed the blackout to system disturbance due to overloading along the Mumias-Kisumu powerlines.

During a similar outage on November 11, it took over Kenya Power personnel 12 hours to restore power in most parts of the country. 

Meanwhile, the Senator has alleged that the shortage of Smart power meters in the country is due to corruption and favouritism that has ended up locking out potential local producers from supplying the gadgets to the utility power firm.

 Wamatinga claims KPLC has ignored local manufacturers with the capacity to produce enough such gadgets that meet the existing shortage in favor of wheeler dealers who are ready to part with hefty kickbacks.

“There is no plausible reason why a client should wait for six months to acquire a single smart meter when we have institutions like the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology where such devices can easily be assembled. I also know of a local manufacturer who can produce a total of 4,000 smart meters and who had applied to be allowed to supply the meters to Kenya Power only for his request to be turned down in favor of a well-connected individual who does not even own a production plant. If only we had allowed such local manufacturers an opportunity to supply these devices, we would not be having the current shortfall of 485,000 smart meters that Kenya Power is unable to supply to its clients,” he has pointed out.    

The State has already embarked on a Smart Meters drive across the country to lock out cartels who had infiltrated the power supply chain.

     Last month the power utility firm announced an invitation to qualified bidders to supply the token meters meant to replace the aging manual postpaid meters.

The Government intends to procure over 200,000 pieces of the new automated meters by January 2024 at a cost of sh.1.6 billion.

Wamatinga has called upon Kenyans to give Dr Ruto time as he works round the clock to fix the economic challenges facing the country and lauded the head of State for the bold steps he has taken in addressing the financial crises affecting the people.

The lawmaker says the economic challenges facing the country emanated from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, prolonged drought, and global recession that has now been compounded by the Ukraine-Russian war.

“President Dr Ruto has managed to steer the country through a very turbulent economic crisis that is a result of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, a prolonged drought that had dogged the country for years and a slowdown in global economic growth,” he explained.     

“One of the masterstrokes that President Dr Ruto undertook was initiating the Government-to-Government oil deal which ensured the country survived adverse shocks from a bullish dollar that had sent our local currency on a free fall. Such interventions have ensured our economy does not go the way of countries that defaulted on their international debt obligations while at the same time helping us in managing our domestic needs,” stated the first-time Senator.

Courtesy; KNA