Government deployed 350 police officers to control the nationwide power outage that has been a frequent menace.
Speaking during a conference in Nairobi, the director of renewable energy at the Ministry of Energy, Benson Mwakina, confirmed that the level of security at energy infrastructure was heightened.
“Right now, we have an energy sector police unit taking care of the infrastructure," Mwakina stated on Friday, November 4.
He further explained that every county commissioner would be part of the energy team looking after the infrastructure.
“We have a team in the Ministry of Energy based at Kawi House headquarters headed by a commissioner of police, and he is the one coordinating about 350 officers countrywide to ensure that our installations are safe,” the director affirmed.
The directive was effected after the country experienced a blackout that affected parts of Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, and Busia, among others.
Through a statement, Kenya Power explained that it was experiencing a technical hitch and was working to resolve the matter.
In January 2022, an unexpected power outage was attributed to a system disturbance. Three Kenya Power senior managers were charged with sabotage and negligence of duty thereafter.
They were also accused of failing to take action and repair failures to a critical power tower.
In relation to the outages, former President Uhuru Kenyatta barred scrap metal trading and ordered the arrest and arraignment of persons accused of vandalizing critical development infrastructure.
"Electricity vandalism translates to economic sabotage as damage to critical infrastructures can affect the country's operations," Uhuru stated, ordering suspects to be charged with treason.
