Kenya Power Staffers Charged Over National Blackout
Three Kenya Power staffers have been charged over the recently witnessed national blackout, while six others were set free.
The six senior staff members were released due to a lack of evidence linking them to the country’s two-week-long blackout.
Three other employees were charged with sabotage and neglect of the electricity company’s infrastructure before Kahawa Chief Magistrate Diana Mochache.
They were, however, released after posting Sh1 million cash bail or a Sh2 million bond with one guarantee.
“On diverse dates, being the employees of Kenya Power Company as the Acting General Manager Network Management, Manager Transmission Network Department and Second Assistant Engineer Transmission Department, willfully and unlawfully with intent to sabotage failed to maintain and reinforce the Dandora- Embakasi high voltage power lines used for the supply of electricity to citizens of the republic of Kenya,” part of the charges preferred against them stated.
It further stated that they “willfully neglected to attend to the Dandora- Embakasi high voltage transmission power towers.”
On Thursday, top security officials will gather to discuss the security of the energy sector’s infrastructure.
The discussion follows an uptick in vandalism, particularly of government facilities, which President Uhuru Kenyatta has branded as economic sabotage.
The president has made it illegal to deal in scrap metal until standards to control the industry have been established.
National Government Administration Officers (NGAOs), Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit (CIPU) commanders, and top KPLC and energy sector management will attend the meeting, which will be led by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi and his Energy counterpart Monica Juma.
Anyone found guilty of vandalizing essential development infrastructure would be charged with treason, according to President Kenyatta.
Such acts of vandalism, he said, amount to economic sabotage because the aforementioned facilities might bring the country’s activities to a halt if they are not functioning properly.
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