Timely response by Kenya Power officials in collaboration with the National Police Service saved Nairobi and Machakos residents from a total power blackout over the entire weekend.
Addressing the media at the Athi River Sub-Station on Monday, May 15, Energy Principal Secretary Alex Wachira revealed that a gang had raided the main power tower serving Nairobi and parts of Machakos County on Friday, May 12.
They started destroying the tower before the law enforcement officers manning the power substation received an alert of the raid and responded swiftly.
"Somebody wanted to bring down the entire tower and thereby disrupt power supply. Because this line that you are seeing here is a 200KV line supplying power from Athi River sub-station to Embakasi sub-station which supplies power to the entire Industrial Area side of Nairobi," Wachira stated.
According to the PS, the utility firm would have recorded a Ksh1 billion loss a day if the gang had successfully brought down the power supply tower.
He further argued that the raid was well-choreographed, terming it as economic sabotage since the gang was not after scrap metal but disrupting the power supply.
"The person wanted to bring down the tower and the line. I think the individuals did not come to look for scrap metal, but for economic sabotage," he added.
Among the power infrastructure targeted by the gangs include transformers, power wires and other transmission elements.
The PS thus warned various scrap metal dealers and other businessmen using metal, hinting at reinstating punitive penalties and measures against the trade.
In January 2022, former President Uhuru Kenyatta imposed stringent measures against the scrap metal trade after several instances of vandalism in the country that caused a nationwide blackout.
At that time, he banned exporting and selling scrap metals in the country.
"The law is clear that these are acts of economic sabotage which falls as a treasonable act and the law is clear as to how you deal with treasonable acts and people who plunge the country into chaos for their own selfish needs," Uhuru stated.
In January 2023, the government launched the Water Police Unit (WPU) to curb the rising vandalism and theft of the country’s water supply and sanitation infrastructure. WPU comprises officers drawn from the Administration Police Service.
