Powerless Kenyans: Is the Government Failing to Address the Outages?Kenyans Demand Answers!

Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) is the largest power supplier in Kenya, with almost every household connected to its power. The country experienced a major power outage on August 25, which impacted operations throughout the country, including at the largest airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

It was unfortunate that the backup generators failed to activate. The cause of the outage, according to the government, was a system disturbance.

Kenya Power Limited is the largest power supplier in Kenya, with almost every house to their power.

The country experienced a major power outage on August 25, which impacted operations throughout the country, including at the largest airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). It was unfortunate that the backup generators failed to activate. The cause of the outage, according to the government, was a system disturbance.
 
Just four months later, another national blackout hit Kenya, leaving millions of people in chaos and businesses closed early. It is important to note that Kenya's power supply is a state monopoly, and no other company supplies power apart from Kenya Power.

Those entering and exiting Jomo Kenyatta International Airport were left perplexed as the backup generators failed to kick in once again. Despite this, the deputy president took a bold stance and blamed the previous government for purchasing "fake generators."

The government is failing to address this issue as it seems to be using the same excuse when there is a power outage. The government should come clean on what is going on and bring to an end the public frustrations with power cuts
 

The Plight of Powerless Kenyans

Living in the Dark

When there is a power outage, it disrupts numerous activities, including work, education, healthcare, and fulfilling basic needs.
 
WORK
Kenya Power Limited is widely recognized as the primary power supplier in Kenya, with nearly every household within the country connected to its power grid.

However, on the 25th of August, the nation experienced an extensive power outage that disrupted operations throughout the nation, including at the largest airport in the country, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

It was unfortunate that the backup generators at the airport failed to activate, which further exacerbated the outage. The government, in its official statement, attributed the outage to a system disturbance.
 
Kenya Power Limited is a major power supplier in Kenya, with an extensive customer base that includes nearly every household within the country connected to its power grid.

However, on August 25th, the nation suffered a significant power outage that disrupted operations throughout the country, including at the largest airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

The failure of the backup generators at the airport further compounded the situation. According to an official statement from the government, the outage was attributable to a system disturbance.

Education
As of 2020, according to a report by Nation. Africa, 95% of schools in Kenya were connected to electricity. Former Energy Cabinet Secretary, Charles Keter, stated that a total of 18,074 schools had been connected to the grid, while 4,171 others had been linked to solar power, bringing the total to 22,245.

This is a significant achievement, considering the number of schools and remote locations in Kenya.
 
However, a power outage in schools, especially boarding schools, can be extremely frustrating to students.

Although some may argue that most students are usually out of school by 5.00 pm, it's essential to keep in mind that students in boarding schools have evening preps, hence the need for stable and reliable electricity.
 
Therefore, it's crucial for the government to continually review and re-evaluate its long-term strategies for stable power supplies to ensure that the education sector is not adversely affected.
 
Healthcare

The healthcare sector is undeniably one of the most critical sectors in the country, as electricity is essential to power life-saving equipment. Some patients in hospitals rely on life support machines to stay alive, and a power outage could lead to severe consequences, including death or worsening of their condition.

Hence, hospitals must have backup generators that can kick in almost instantly to restore power in the event of an outage.
 
However, relying solely on backup generators is not a long-term solution. The government should prioritize resolving electricity shortages to ensure that the healthcare sector and its patients receive stable and uninterrupted power supply.

This is vital to guarantee that hospitals can provide the necessary care to patients and save lives without any hindrances caused by power outages.
 

Lack of Transparency and Accountability

As mentioned earlier, the government is not taking accountability for the loss of electricity even when it goes off for more than 12 hours.

Some Kenyans have started speculating that the frequent power outages could be a plot by the government to justify privatizing the state-owned monopoly company Kenya Power and Lighting Company.

We should gear up and demand answers from the government because we cannot continue to have power outages now and then without a clear explanation from the government. 

These frequent power outages could even lead to investors pulling out of the country since their businesses depend heavily on electricity. Hence, the power outages could lead to loss-making.

Most Kenyans have lost trust in Kenya due to high cases of corruption and persistent losses despite it being a monopoly. In recent Tifa polls, the energy cabinet secretary Davis Chirchir was named the least performing cabinet secretary, scoring 19%. This goes to show the lack of trust in the country.

Past Failures and unfulfilled promises

Over the last three months, the country has experienced two national power outages. This is so absurd that it rarely occurred during the previous government's tenure.

I am personally frustrated because the people we elected to deliver on their promises are now doing the opposite, overburdening Kenyans in every possible way. However, we will have to wait and see.

In the previous power outages, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure, Kipchumba Murkomen, even fired the Kenya Airports Authority boss (KAA) over the failure of generators to work. That's not justifiable.

The Cabinet Secretary sought to reassure the country and the world that enough measures had been put in place to ensure the incident would not recur.

However, what the Cabinet Secretary was not saying was that this was the second time in that week that JKIA had gone into total darkness for about two hours.

Here's the context: it would appear that Kenya Power and Lighting Company has not put in enough measures to safeguard the country from national blackouts, which mostly, for some reason, happen at night.
 
Now listen to this: on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, the entire country was left without power for 15 minutes after a rogue monkey got into a power station and triggered a blackout, affecting at the time 4.7 million households and businesses. KPLC said the monkey that survived the tragedy fell onto Kenya's largest generator in the country, causing the blackout. Talk of monkey business!

Demanding Solutions and Taking  Action

Alternative Energy Solutions

Despite the country having a power grid of electricity capacity of 2,651 megawatts with a peak demand of 1,912 MW as of November 2019 the country still experienced frequent power blackouts without a clear explanation from the government. However, there are a few areas where the country can invest such as;

1. Color: Kenya enjoys a lot of sun throughout the year making solar a viable option. Large-scale solar farms and rooftop installations can significantly reduce reliance on hydropower

2. Geothermal: Kenya has rich geothermal resources, especially in the Rift Valley. Investing in geothermal power plants can provide baseload power making the grid more stable.

3. Wind: The government needs to add more grids in the different locations in the country to prevent sudden occurrence of power failure

Holding the Government accountable

Kenyan citizens need to hold the government accountable for ensuring uninterrupted power supply at all times. If Kenya Power and Lighting Company needs to carry out maintenance work that would result in power outages, they should inform the public well in advance to keep them informed.
 
To prevent the government from taking advantage of its citizens, Kenyans need to make their voices heard through peaceful protests, petitions, and legal action. This will help keep the government in check at all times.

Building a Sustainable Power Future 

The government of Kenya needs to come up with a solution for frequent power outages and build reliable and sustainable power systems for Kenyans. By eliminating corruption at Kenya Power  and Lighting Company we would have more responsible individuals in case of power outages
 
Also, the government needs to set aside funds for good power generator backups and employment. You see it was a shame for the government at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport that the generators were not working, instead of the government playing the blame game it should have set aside money for the procurement of backup generators.
 
Finally, the government should create employment at Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC)Just to have more people on the site so they can restore power quickly in case of an outage
 

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is high time for the government to step up its efforts in various sectors. A good way to do this is to welcome power companies into the country providing consumers with a variety of options for their energy needs.
 
Moreover, the government must tackle the issue of transparency and pay heed to the grievances of Kenyans to prevent the recurrence of past mistakes.

This approach will not only enhance the trust of the citizens  but also improve the overall governance of the country