Kenya Power throws King'ong'o Prison into darkness over unpaid bill

Nyeri, Kenya: The King'ongo Maximum Security Prison community spent the night in darkness after Kenya Power disconnected electricity at the institution over an unpaid bill.

According to reliable sources, power was disconnected yesterday morning over bills amounting to Sh3.6 million.

Speaking to The Standard on phone, Assistant Commissioner of Prisons Patrick Aranduh, who is also the Nyeri County Prisons Commander and officer-in-charge at King'ong'o, said the move to cut power was affecting the whole of Nyeri command, which includes the main prison, the medium prison and the women prison.

JEOPARDISE SECURITY

"In addition, the prison staff as well as their families have also been affected by the disconnection," Mr Aranduh noted.

Aranduh said he was surprised when engineers from Kenya Power arrived at the facility at around 10am and immediately disconnected power.

"In most cases, electricity bills are usually paid at the prison headquarters in Nairobi and we are wondering why this time, Kenya Power decided to cut it at the station level," he said.

Aranduh said this was the first time the power company was disconnecting owing to non-payment of bills at the station level and wondered why the company took such a decision.

"The engineers, led by a Mr Njenja, said to restore power, they will require a commitment letter from the prison headquarters indicating when and how the bill will be cleared," he said.

He defended the Government saying, in most cases, it honours its commitment by paying the bills no matter the amount or the length of time taken.

"Kenya Power should be able to sort out this matter at the prison headquarters without trying to antagonise the security of the inmates as well as that of the prison officers and their families," he said.

Aranduh said the move to cut power caught them off guard and could jeopardise security.

Meanwhile over 1,100 nurses in Nyeri will go on strike on November 22 in solidarity with their colleagues over delays by Government to implement a collective bargaining agreement.

The Nyeri Kenya National Union of Nurses branch said 980 nurses working at the Nyeri Provincial General Hospital, four district hospitals and tens of sub district hospitals, health centres and dispensaries will completely paralyse activity in the institutions because they were being treated as "second class workers."

"The CBA negotiations were completed in February 2014 and the Government has failed to keep its promise to implement the increases after earlier industrial action was shelved," said Anne Githiongo, the branch chair.