President William Ruto has lauded Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja for how he handled the clash between the Nairobi County Government and Kenya Power following their phone call over the matter.
Speaking during a church service in Roysambu on Sunday, Ruto described Sakaja as a strong and courageous leader for having the grace to apologise for dumping garbage outside the Stima Plaza in a retaliatory attack.
The President divulged that he had immediately called both parties, including Governor Sakaja, and told them to end the stand-off immediately, something he said the Governor heeded immediately.
"I want to thank Governor Sakaja. Recently they made a mistake. I called this Governor and also called the others and told them they had to stop this thing. I'm grateful the Governor apologised because a mistake was made and it takes a courageous strong leader to say 'I'm sorry,'" Ruto stated.
"Governor, congratulations for apologising. We must now pick up from there and move forward together as a city to build a strong city and a strong nation."
Ruto also backed Governor Sakaja's mission to clean up Nairobi and upgrade it to be the face of Kenya in terms of development. To achieve this, Ruto pledged readiness to work with leaders of all levels from Members of County Assembly (MCAs) to the Governor.
On Wednesday, February 26, Sakaja issued an apology to Kenya Power over the spilled garbage outside Stima Plaza, terming the incident as unfortunate and promising to deal with it in-house.
"It was unfortunate that one of the trucks tipped garbage, which is why it was collected in less than 30 minutes. That matter will be dealt with internally," he added.
The apology ended a three-day stand-off between the two institutions due to unpaid bills from both ends. Reportedly, Kenya Power had switched off electricity in several Nairobi County offices over Ksh3 billion in unpaid electricity bills.
In return, the County Government officials had dumped garbage outside Kenya Power headquarters, turned on sewage pipes in the area, and even clamped several of their vehicles over Ksh4.9 billion in unpaid bills.
"There has been a long-standing issue with payments, which used to be settled in the past. The same way KPLC cuts power when there is non-payment, the county government also has remedies provided by law. Some of these actions include withdrawing county services and clamping buildings," Sakaja explained when announcing a truce on Wednesday.
The press briefing followed a successful negotiation meeting graced by Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei.
