Three KPLC managers charged over outage
Three Kenya Power senior managers were yesterday charged with sabotage and negligence over countrywide power outage a fortnight ago.
Raphael Kimeu, David Mutitu and Julius Mwaniki, who are the Acting General Manager Network Management, Chief Engineer Transmission and Distribution and Assistant Engineer respectively appeared before Kahawa Chief Magistrate Diana Mochache and denied the charges.
According to the charge sheet, trio, through their positions willfully and unlawfully and with intent to sabotage, failed to maintain and reinforce the Dandora-Embakasi High Voltage Power lines.
Court heard that their action led to the collapse of Towers 11, 12, 13 and 14 located at Imara Daima area in Embakasi South sub-county.
In the second count, they are accused of neglecting to attend to the Dandora-Embakasi High Voltage Power lines numbers 7, 11, 12, 13 and 14 that had been vandalised.
Prosecution did not oppose their release on bail but asked the court to give them stringent terms, as the charges they were facing were serious. The court released them on a Sh1 million cash bail or Sh 2 million bond. Six other employees were released unconditionally after the prosecution said there was no evidence linking them to the nationwide blackout on January 11.
The nine had been detained for eight days for police to conclude investigations. State wanted them detained for 21 days, arguing that failure to act on reports about vandalism to Kenya Power high voltage lines that led to the countrywide outage was deliberate and calculated.
Kenya Power had attributed the power blackouts to vandalism of four towers on the Nairobi- Kiambere high voltage transmission line.
