Kitale Law Court has slapped a man involved in the theft and vandalism of electric infrastructure in western Kenya with a six-year jail term with an option of a Ksh10.2 million fine.
In a statement on Tuesday, April 8, the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) confirmed that the man, who had a previous record of similar offences, pleaded guilty to vandalising energy infrastructure, stealing energy equipment, handling stolen energy equipment, and carrying out electric installation without the necessary authorisation.
For the first two offences, the man was handed a three-year jail term for each count with an option of a Ksh5 million fine.
On the third offence, handling stolen energy equipment, the man was sentenced to five years in prison with an option of Ksh100,000, while on the fourth offence, conducting unauthorised electric installation, the man was sentenced to five months in prison with a Ksh100,000 fine.
"George Odiyo, who was arraigned before Kitale Law Courts on 1 April 2025, was charged with four offences, including vandalism of energy infrastructure, stealing energy equipment, handling stolen energy equipment, and carrying out electrical installation work without authority," the statement read.
According to the Kenya Power Security Services manager, Geoffrey Kigen, the power company will continue collaborating with relevant authorities to ensure that vandalism and theft of electric equipment comes to an end.
KPLC has further urged the public to refrain from such illegal activities and report any suspicious activities to the company's nearest offices.
"We welcome the court's decision to impose stiff penalties on this individual, as it sends a strong message that vandalism of critical energy infrastructure will not be tolerated," Kigen said.
"We are working closely with the relevant law enforcement agencies to weed out all unlawful activities on our network. This ruling is a major boost toward our effort to curb vandalism and theft of electricity through illegal connections," he added.
For years, the energy infrastructure across the country has been a frequent target of vandalism, which has often resulted in power disruption.
On February 12, the Machakos Department of Energy said that 200 electric meters from public institutions in the county were either stolen or vandalised, resulting in residents complaining of power outages.
According to the Machakos County Chief Officer of Energy, Simon Kirima, some of the meters were found in residential buildings and private businesses, yet the county was paying for their electricity.
"We have found this residential household using county meters, and its balance is reading 205,951, while the county has so far paid 1.6 million for it, yet we are not using it,” he said.
