Narok residents protest over power connection delay

Estate owners in Narok town confront Kenya Power manager George Njoroge (in blue shirt) at the company offices yesterday. They were complaining over a three-year delay in connecting electricity to their houses. [PHOTO: ROBERT KIPLAGAT/STANDARD]

Estate owners yesterday stormed Kenya Power offices protesting over delays in power connection.

The owners of Emaiyan Estates on the outskirts of the town complained the power agency had delayed in connecting power to their houses since they applied in 2013.

Led by their chairman James Kitaika and secretary Sylvia Sila, the real estate investors said they had been receiving numerous false promises from the power supplier, prompting them to stage the protest.

Their storming of the Kenya Power offices, however, forced the management to call the police, who arrived to keep vigil.

"We have been without power since 2013. We applied under the 'Stima Mashinani' programme but even after the Government subsidised the connection fee, we are yet to get the power. We do not know what is happening," said Mr Kitaika.

POWER UTILITY

They wondered why the power utility firm called the police yet they had gone to the offices to present their grievances.

The estate owners also said the firm dug pole holes in January, yet no single post had been erected.

"Since we applied, they have never given us quotations. It is ironical that we are located barely 200 metres from the town, which has street lights, yet we do not have power. We are more than ready to pay for the power to be supplied to our estates," added Kitaika.

Ms Sila said her house had been broken into two times by burglars due to lack of power.

"Our lives and those of our tenants are at stake. I have been attacked twice by armed robbers who recently also raided my neighbour's house. We need power just like other Kenyans," she said.

Area Kenya Power manager George Njoroge cited delay in procurement of a transformer, saying the issues raised by the estate owners will be solved once they get a transformer.

This comes barely two months after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that Sh500 million had been ear-marked for the Last Mile power connectivity in the county.