Power blackout: MPs summon Energy CS Chirchir, Kenya Power CEO over major outage
Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and Kenya Power chief executive Joseph Siror.
Members of Parliament have summoned Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and Kenya Power Chief Executive Officer Joseph Siror over the nationwide power outage witnessed on Friday.
On Friday night, Kenyans reported outages in most areas of the country that highly affected Nairobi, Mombasa, Central and Western regions.
The National Assembly committee on Energy wants the two to appear before them on Thursday with a detailed explanation on what caused the outage that affected even the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), East Africa's busiest airport and main hub, where passengers were left stranded on Friday for a while before power was restored.
“The chairman has directed that we summon the CS Energy together with the CEO KPLC on Thursday to explain the cause of the current nationwide black out which has paralysed the nation, including the International Airport,” reads a communication dispatched from the committee secretariat.
The committee, chaired by Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka, said it was embarrassing for the country’s international airport to be in total darkness hence responsible authorities should provide explanation over the incident.
The committee, which is in a retreat in Mombasa for the report writing on the high cost of electricity in the country, said it would have summoned the two earlier but it is yet to finalise the report it is working on.
Majority of the MPs wanted the CS to face them on Monday over the blackout but the committee is yet to craft a final report on the high cost of electricity with the draft expected to be completed today.
Kenya Power in a statement issued on Friday night attributed the outage that led to the loss of bulk power in various parts of the country to a system disturbance.
“We are working in collaboration with teams from all involved sector partners to facilitate speedy restoration of supply in the shortest time possible,” reads the Kenya Power statement.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen is set to address the media at JKIA on Saturday after a meeting with Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) officials.
Power was restored in parts of Central Kenya a few hours after the outages, with other parts of the country getting their power back on Saturday morning. A few areas are still experiencing an outage.
