For almost one month, residents of Nyambera in Kisii county lived in total darkness due to a malfunctioning transformer. The locals accused Kenya Power of neglecting them despite making several visits to the regional offices. Ironically, the offices are located a few meters from the village.
Hivisasa Kisii based writer Geoff Gichana covered the story highlighting the plight of the residents. The writer managed to interview a number of residents who were affected.
The locals claimed that they had exhausted all avenues of getting power back. According to locals, most activities had come to a standstill. Most businesses that depend on machinery incurred heavy losses. Eateries that use power to preserve food also suffered heavy losses. On the other hand, insecurity cases had soared especially in the evening.
After Hivisasa published the story, Gichana shared it with Kenya Power regional manager David Ondari. Odari immediately acted by directing his staff to install a new transformer in the area. Kenya Power later apologized to residents over the three-week blackout.
It emerged that the initial transformer malfunctioning stemmed from overloading. As a result, KP installed a transformer with a large capacity to avoid overloading.
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