Chairperson of President William Ruto's Council of Economic Advisors David Ndii contradicted his boss and the Kenya Kwanza campaign manifesto on the cost of electricity.
In a statement shared on Thursday, February 23, Ndii indicated that the Kenya Kwanza government did not promise Kenyans cheap electricity.
"If you cared to peruse our manifesto, you would have noted that cheap power does not feature in our pledges on electricity," the economist shared.
Further, Ndii indicated that the government has two options with regard to addressing the needs of Kenyans who are complaining about the high cost of electricity.
"On power bills, we have two choices. Costly power [that is] available 24/7, or cheap power [that is] available a few hours a day, like South Africa," Ndii continued.
However, this is contrary to the Kenya Kwanza campaign manifesto which committed to reducing the cost of electricity.
"Improve reliability, bring down the cost of electricity," reads part of Kenya Kwanza's commitment to Kenyans with regard to electricity.
The Kenya Kwanza manifesto acknowledged that while the country's generation capacity had increased considerably in recent years electricity in Kenya was expensive and unreliable.
"This ought not to be the case, given that we are blessed with considerable geothermal, solar, wind and water resources that can provide cheap environmentally friendly power," the manifesto document read in part.
President Ruto has continued to assure Kenyans that the cost of electricity will go down.
According to the President, cheap clean power had the potential of being a strong value proposition for attracting energy-intensive production for the global market in Kenya.
However, Ndii's statement seems to prepare Kenyans for two options that the government may be mulling, including one that is currently in practice in South Africa.
