Ten Kenya Power senior managers of the troubled utility firm, Kenya Power have been taken to Kahawa Law courts within the precincts of Kamiti Maximum Prisons by detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
This comes a day after they were questioned over negligence and sabotaging electricity supply that rocked the country last week.
Amongst officials who have been arrested include the General manager in charge of the network, Chief Engineer, network management officials, Chief security officer among others. Others are Eng George Korir, David Mutiso, Julius Mwaniki of transmission, security officer Geoffrey Kigen, and Kithusia.
“The angle towers had been vandalised and bracings could not support the weight of the conductors which are very heavy. Other towers failed to sustain the weight and also caved in,” the DCI said.
This comes after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered an immediate probe and action into the said sabotage in regard to the January 11 incident where the country experienced blackout after collapsed towers on the Kiambere- Embakasi high voltage transmission power line.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma also called for implementation and proposed reforms in the power sector following the intermittent power outages.
According to Juma, the power outages experienced last week underscore the imperative and urgency of reform execution to ensure stable and reliable power supply.
She also stated that the Ministry of Energy is working to ensure it does not recur again.
“The Ministry of Energy is hard at work to ensure that the experience of last week does not recur, I commend our staff from Kenya Power and Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO1) who worked around the clock to repair the faults and restore power across the country,” she said.
The power company has so far been stripped off its responsibility for the country’s electricity network as (Ketraco) took over the mandate.
In a gazette notice, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) announced the designation of power to (Ketraco) taking charge of the selection of power plants feeding the grid at any one time.
“Pursuant to section 138 (1) of the Energy Act, 2019, Epra designates Ketraco as the system operator. The system operator will be responsible for matching consumer’s requirements/demand with the electrical energy availability or supply, maintaining electric power system security and arranging for the dispatch process,” said the power sector regulator.
The company has also been designated as the system operator, which is part of reforms the government is undertaking in the power sector.
