By Prof Gitile Naituli
Since the Ruto government came into power, Kenya has experienced national power blackouts more times probably than has been by all previous regimes put together.
At one time, the country was plunged into darkness for between 18 and 24 hours. By any measure, this is a catastrophe equivalent of a terrorist attack. This is dangerous both to national security and the economy. Does this regime understand the fact that there are babies in incubators, people in the various theatres ICUs and HDUs in hospitals across the country?
Yet, as if to confirm the incompetence and confusion in government, cabinet ministers Davis Chirchir (Energy) and Transport’s Kipchumba Murkomen give seemingly contradicting statements on the same. Murkomen has written to the Inspector General of police Japhet Koome requesting for investigation of possible collusion and sabotage after the blackout suspended operations and disrupted flights at the JKIA, Africa’s transport hub on the night of December 10th. Due to frequency and the impact of the outages, it seems the minister suspects a problem deeper than a mere technical challenge.
On the other hand, Mr Chirchir is quite casual in his approach. In an explanation that contradicts science, he blamed the outage on overload of the Kisumu-Muhoroni major transmission line which tripped and caused system failure. His solution to the problem is even more casual and foolish, really…rationing of electricity in some areas, meaning people and businesses in those areas will lack electricity when they need it most. Crazy idea of solving a problem by creating another one.
Mr Chirchir’s explanation contradicts science. If I remember, the question of oversupply and undersupply was addressed at the basic level in form two physics class of step down and step up transformers. The design of any power system will always incorporate the necessary mechanisms to handle supply/demand variations and therefore undersupply or oversupply can never be an issue. The minister was either evasive in his answer or doesn’t understand what he was saying.
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In any case, the issue of oversupply is simply mitigated by switching off some generators whereas that of undersupply is addressed through adding more generators or rationing in the worst case scenario. It is very difficult for an engineer to give a technical response to this statement since it lacks specifics. Mr Chirchir ought to have indicated exactly which line or substation tripped. The Energy CS’s explanation seems more of a political statement designed to justify further borrowing and looting which have become character traits of the KK government .
When the President is globe trotting ostensibly looking for jobs for Kenyans, his ministers are busy killing business environment and jobs at home. It’s more of a disjointed approach, working at cross purposes for mutual destruction.
The writer is Multimedia University of Kenya lecturer and former commissioner NCIC
