Kenya Power has responded to demonstrations staged by Kenyatta University students along the Thika Superhighway to protest power supply issues in Roysambu.
In a statement issued on Monday, January 27, Kenya Power explained the cause of the outage and outlined the steps being taken to resolve the situation.
"Late last year, a 200kVA transformer serving Kiwanja area in Roysambu failed. At the time, the Company did not have similar units in its stores. Therefore, to mitigate a power outage in the area, a bigger capacity transformer (315kVA) was temporarily deployed to the affected site while an appropriate replacement was being sought," the statement read.
According to Kenya Power, the area, which houses several hostels for Kenyatta University students and other residential establishments, has been relying on the temporary transformer.
Kenya Power revealed that an ideal transformer for the area was secured last week and was set for installation on January 23.
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"An ideal transformer with the capacity to serve the Kiwanja area (200kVA) was secured and dispatched last week, on Thursday, 23rd January 2025, for installation. The team was under instruction to install the new transformer and recover the 315kVA unit that had been installed as a stop-gap measure," the statement added.
However, Kenya Power noted that the process took a dramatic turn when the company’s technical team faced violent resistance from locals as they attempted to replace the transformer.
"As soon as the team commenced disconnection of the 315kVA transformer to facilitate the swap, locals confronted them by throwing stones injuring a number of staff and damaging the truck that had ferried the team and the new transformer to site. The truck's hydraulic system was damaged, wheels punctured, and the windscreen was smashed," the statement further read.
The company noted that the injured staff were receiving medical attention while repairs on the damaged truck were underway.
"The staff managed to escape after being beaten and harassed. They are receiving medical attention while the truck has been moved to the workshop for repairs.
"The Company is working with the relevant security agencies to resolve the challenges in Kiwanja in a bid to restore power supply within the earliest opportunity," the statement read.
On Monday mid-morning, Kenyatta University (KU) students engaged in protests along the Thika Superhighway due to power supply issues in the Roysambu's Kiwanja area.
The protests were sparked by an extended power outage and disruptions linked to the transformer replacement.
"We reached out to the regional manager. We wrote a letter requesting that power be restored. Up to now, they have not restored power. What they are doing is taking our transformer to another location, which we are not going to allow," KU president Glen Karani said.
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