Govt Accuses Kenya Power Of Frustrating Housing Project: "It's A Nightmare"

• Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga has blamed KPLC for the delay in the occupancy of government housing projects
• Hinga said Kenya Power has not acted on their request to connect electricity to many houses across the country
• The PS said they are forced to write to the ministry, but all they get are excuses on court moratoriums

Nairobi - Principal Secretary Charles Hinga has accused the Kenya Power and Lighting Company of derailing the government's housing projects.

Hinga disclosed that the government had paid for power connection to some houses across the country, but they are not connected to date.

Appearing before the Energy committee, the PS said they had to escalate the matter and write to the PS about the electricity issue, but they got more excuses.

"The issue of power is generally a big problem for us because when we paid Kenya Power to get electricity to the site, there was no power connection one year down the line. Then you have to write to the PS, and he says there is a court moratorium on them bringing meters. It is a nightmare on the side of implementing projects," Hinga explained.

In a video published by Citizen TV, Hinga explained that the delay in connection has had a ripple effect on the condition of the houses.

Vacant houses over power issues

He said they must redo some fittings that have decayed over the years because no tenants care for them.

"When you have a completed project, that is not occupied, you know the decay is way faster than when you have people living in it. When you go and look at those houses now in Mavoko, we are likely to redo some other work because they have stayed idle for so many years," he said.

Emurua Dikirr MP and chair of the Energy Committee Johanna Ng'eno warned the PS against blame games.

"Let it not be you that is frustrating the good work of the government, and this is something that has been witnessed in most of the government functionaries, like the blackout in the airport if it was a private entity there should have been an automatic back-up generator," Ng'eno said.

Other members of the committee raised lobbying and follow-up issues pertaining to the delayed power connection at some housing projects.

Energy Ministry blames Lake Turkana wind power plant

The Ministry of Energy blamed the Lake Turkana Wind Power Plant (LTWP) for the nationwide blackout on Friday, August 25.

Energy Cabinet Secretary (CS) Davis Chirchir said the blackout, which left businesses counting losses, was occasioned by the loss of 270MW generation from the Lake Turkana Wind Power Plant.

Chirchir said technical teams drawn from Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and the Kenya Electricity Transmission (KETRACO) were reviewing the incident reports to forestall such an occurrence in the future.