President William Ruto’s live media engagement at Kisumu State Lodge was briefly interrupted by a power outage on Monday night, plunging the venue into darkness as he addressed journalists.
The disruption forced the televised interview to pause, with the broadcast reportedly going off air before proceedings resumed.
Ruto appeared surprised by the outage and questioned why the State Lodge had not immediately switched to a backup generator.
“Why don’t you put this place on a generator so that we stop? Why don’t you switch the lights to the generator?” Ruto asked.
The President also took responsibility for the disruption, telling journalists not to apologise for the incident.
“It is not you to be sorry, it is me because I am the owner of this place. I should be much more organised,” he said.
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The power cut reportedly occurred several times during the engagement, creating an awkward interruption as Ruto responded to questions on his administration’s development agenda and the Affordable Housing Programme.
The incident also turned attention to persistent electricity reliability concerns in parts of the Nyanza region, which Ruto is visiting as part of a multi-day tour.
Ruto acknowledged the concerns over frequent power outages and said the government was fast-tracking infrastructure projects intended to improve electricity supply in the region.
He said the projects included construction of power lines to strengthen the region’s connection to the national grid.
The President also apologised to residents over the frequent outages, saying efforts were underway to stabilise electricity supply.
Ruto is in Nyanza to inspect government projects, launch infrastructure initiatives and engage residents and local leaders.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi, who hails from Nyanza and was reportedly present during the interview, also faced criticism online following the blackout.