Editor's Review

The committee appeared disturbed by the blackout that paralysed operations at the JKIA.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) chief executive Joseph Siror have been asked to appear before the National Assembly Committee on Energy.

The committee under the stewardship of Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka wants the duo to explain the complacency in their respective offices as regards the nationwide blackout on Friday, August 25.

The lawmakers appeared disturbed by the electricity outage that adversely affected operations at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

The airport is known to be the busiest in East and Central Africa, and a business hub for the region.

"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," partly read a communication from the committee.

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Energy CS Davis Chirchir.

Chirchir and Siror will face the committee on Thursday, August 31.

This came as Nandi senator Samson Cherargei asked the power utility firm to compensate Kenyans following the losses incurred in businesses, and also loss of lives in hospitals.

"The KPLC must quantify and compensate the loss of lives and businesses lost during the massive blackout across the country," he said.

KPLC attributed the outage to a system disturbance that let to a loss of bulk power supply to various parts of the country. 

"We are working in collaboration with teams from all involved sector partners to facilitate speedy restoration of supply in the shortest time possible.

We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused and we reassure them that our technical team are currently working to identify the root cause and restore power to the affected areas," it said.