Power cuts add to Kenya’s woes

Erratic power supplies in Kenya will curtail economic growth, battering a population struggling through a political crisis and rising inflation fueled by high oil prices.

Power cuts are becoming a daily routine in Nairobi and the rest of the country. Businesses are incurring losses due to many hours of lost productivity. Those opting to supplement power supplies with oil-fired generators are having to deal with rising fuel costs averaging Kshs97 (US$1.6) a litre for petrol. Power spikes, surges and low-voltage have ruined electrical equipment across the country necessitating extra costs in purchase of power stabilization systems.

Informal businesses located in the city’s residential areas and which cannot afford the use of generators are most affected. Owners of cybercafes, secretarial bureaus, salons, barbershops, welding workshops and motor vehicle garages watch helplessly as employees idle for hours due to lack of electricity.

There are fears that erratic power supply is likely to grow into full fledged power rationing very soon as demand for electricity outstrips the supply. Fears of power rationing are credible given a slow pace in developing new power stations inspite of a supply reserve of less than 10% of national demand (the global standard is 15%). The last period of power rationing in Kenya was between 1999 and 2001 which resulted in two consecutive years of negative economic growth.

Unsatisfactory electricity supply is attributed to rising demand recorded in the past five years. The suburbs of Nairobi have witnessed rapid construction of high rise flats in Umoja, Mathare North, Donholm, Kileleshwa, Kilimani, Ongata Rongai among other areas. An ambitious street lighting program in all of Kenya’s towns has increased the demand for power. For instance, the town of Garissa has street lights for the first time in its history. Meanwhile, industries that had hibernated during the Nyayo era gained a fresh lease of life thanks to a booming economy, putting further strain on the electricity supply system.

Kenya’s power producer has allayed fears of an electricity crisis. The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) says that the commissioning of the Sondu Miriu Hydro Electric power station in Western Kenya late last year should alleviate the possibility of supply shortfalls. KenGen is sourcing funds to expand geothermal power generation at Olkaria.

Its worth noting that until Sondu Miriu last year, no major hydroelectric dam had been built since the 1980s. That was when the Seven Forks Scheme on Tana River and the Turkwell Gorge project were completed. Whereas Sondu Miriu is expected to produce less than 100 Megawatts after a decade of construction, the Seven Forks and Turkwell mega projects still produce over 500 Megawatts in total.

The Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC) which distributes power from KenGen to consumers is on a multi-billion shilling programme to expand its distribution network. KPLC is putting up additional transformers as well as installing thicker conductors to transmit more electricity. KPLC is importing electricity poles after its local suppliers were unable to meet its requirements.

Nevertheless, Kenya’s business community cannot be blamed for viewing both KenGen and KPLC with skepticism. The state has a large controlling stake in both corporations, making them susceptible to political pressure. For instance, the tenures for KPLC’s Canadian expatriate managers are about to expire with little indication that the Ministry of Energy will renew the contracts. If anything, there is speculation that management of KPLC could be used as a reward to political operatives.

In 2006, the Ministry of Energy accused the KPLC of failing to utilize billions of shillings meant for rural electrification yet there were thousands of potential customers lining up to be connected. KPLC is also criticized for spending more money on administration than it spends on plant and machinery. The company buys new fleets of maintenance trucks every few years with little tangible results.

KPLC emergency crews are notorious for inefficient and corrupt practices. A woman in Nairobi told the Nairobi Chronicle how KPLC personnel demanded bribes to fix her electricity meter despite the fact that it was on fire!

Mungiki sect presents new political headache

With the inception of a giant coalition cabinet last Sunday, it was expected that Kenya gets back the peace its famous for. The Mungiki sect, however, presents the first challenge for the giant coalition.

For the second day, the Mungiki disrupted businesses and highway transport in Nairobi, the Central province and parts of the Rift Valley. Riots were reported in various suburbs as bus operators kept off the road inspite of a police crackdown on the riots. A commuter bus of the Kenya Bus Services was set alight near Kibera after passengers were ordered out.

The Mungiki are protesting the murder of their jailed leader’s wife. Her beheaded and battered body was found alongside that of her driver in the Aberdare forest on Thursday – two days after they were carjacked in Nairobi. A preliminary autopsy indicated evidence of gang-rape. Other decayed bodies were found in the vicinity.

The Mungiki accuse Kenya police hit-squads of being behind the killings. In the past year, at least 500 bodies of suspected Mungiki members have been found in woodlands around Nairobi after abduction by people identifying themselves as police. Police have denied the claims, though, saying the deaths – including the recent ones – are a result of conflict within the illegal group.

Yesterday, in response to the rioting that seemingly caught the security services offguard, Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the police would not be intimidated. He warned Mungiki youth from disrupting the transport network saying that, “anyone doing so will face severe consequences.”

The riots affected President Kibaki’s home district where villagers with axes cut down trees which they used to block the main highway to Nairobi. Coming in the wake of the giant coalition between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, political observers say the Mungiki riots could be a sign of disaffection among Kikuyu youth with President Kibaki. The Kikuyu believe that Mr Odinga used violent protests to muscle his way into the Prime Minister’s office.

Violent clashes between President Kibaki’s supporters and those of Mr Odinga erupted following disputed presidential elections in December 2007. Both Kibaki and Odinga were candidates. After Kibaki was declared the winner, ethnic conflict between his supporters – mostly the Kikuyu – and those of Mr Odinga left at least 1,500 dead and about 350,000 homeless. Mr Odinga’s supporters evicted the Kikuyu from their homes in the Rift Valley leading to revenge attacks against members of Odinga’s Luo ethnic group in Kikuyu dominated areas. The Kikuyu accuse Mr Odinga’s allies of “ethnic cleansing.” Mr Odinga denies it, saying the violence was a, “spontaneous reaction to electoral fraud.”

With an apparent revolt within his core ethnic backers, it remains to be seen if President Kibaki will continue a security crackdown that has killed hundreds in the past year or whether he will seek a negotiated settlement with the Mungiki.

Outlawed Sect in fresh threats

An outlawed political and religious sect engaged in nationwide riots across Kenya today, creating tension in the country in the midst of popular discontent with the country’s leadership.

Members of the Mungiki sect were protesting the gory murder of the wife to their jailed chairman. The riots in Nairobi, Naivasha, Nakuru, Eldoret and parts of the Central Province began as early as 5am, catching commuters by surprise. The main highway linking Nairobi to Western Kenya and Uganda was blocked at Naivasha. Parts of a railway line at Dandora, east of Nairobi, were vandalized by irate mobs. By mid-morning, police had shot dead at least 15 youths in various towns for participating in the riots. Several others were placed under arrest.

Mrs Virginia Maina’s decapitated body was found dumped in the Aberdare forest on the 10^th of April along that of her driver. Mrs Maina was wife to Mungiki national chairman, Maina Njenga who is serving a jail term for activities related to the group. Mrs Maina and her driver were carjacked in Nairobi two days earlier. Most observers believe the killings were executed by persons allied to state security forces. The East African Standard reports of evidence that Mrs Maina had been gang-raped in circumstances surrounding her murder.

In the past year, the Kenya Police is accused of having abducted and secretly killed at least 500 people it claims were members of Mungiki. The bodies are usually found dumped in forests, hands tied and with obvious signs of torture. Police have denied involvement in the murders, saying the killings were a result of conflict within the Mungiki.

The Mungiki is a quasi religious-political and cultural organization drawing its membership from disaffected youth mostly from the Kikuyu ethnic group. It advocates a return to traditional African values to combat what it calls the moral decadence of Westernization. Sociologists say that groups like Mungiki become very appealing to youths faced with rapid globalization, massive inequalities, unemployment, poverty and state oppression, all of which are present in Kenya in various degrees. Groups like the Mafia of Italy have similar roots with the Mungiki of Kenya.

With a membership estimated in the lower millions, the Kenya government’s tactics of targeted assassination against the Mungiki will probably fail to crush the group. The riots of today indicate that without dealing with poverty, inequality and state brutality, groups like Mungiki can only gain more recruits and further weaken the credibility of the state in an already fragile nation.

Giant Cabinet finally named

After a week of apprehension across Kenya, a 40 member cabinet was finally unveiled yesterday marking the beginning of a coalition between two political camps that have divided the country.

President Mwai Kibaki and the new Prime Minister, Raila Odinga launched the cabinet after a weekend of consultations. The coalition cabinet is the culmination of mediation talks between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga following disputed presidential elections in December that led to the deaths of 1,500 people and the displacement of at least 300,000. However, reactions from the public remain muted due to perceptions by Mr Odinga’s supporters that President Kibaki and his PNU party have kept all the influential ministerial posts.

The cabinet, expected to have been unveiled last Sunday (April 6^th) was delayed due to wrangling over the sharing of such key cabinet posts as finance, defence, internal security, energy, local government, transport and cabinet affairs. President Kibaki’s PNU has kept all these posts except Local Government, which went to Odinga’s running mate in the 2007 polls, Mr Musalia Mudavadi. Mr Mudavadi also gets the post of Deputy Prime Minister, alongside Uhuru Kenyatta who is the son of Kenya’s founding President, Jomo Kenyatta. Unlike Mr Odinga, Mudavadi is trusted by Kibaki’s allies as a moderate.

Civil society groups, Churches and Muslim groups have criticized the giant cabinet as an extravagance that the country cannot afford. A cabinet minister in Kenya earns Kshs1 million a month (US$16,130) and is provided with police bodyguards, a SUV and a chauffeured Mercedes. Many of the 40 ministries have at least two assistant ministers with slightly smaller perks. Meanwhile, half the population lives in poverty with inadequate healthcare, poor housing and sanitation and little hopes of employment. The average Kenyan in the rural areas can expect to live on $350 a year.

The United States, European Union and the African Union say that inspite of its size, the giant cabinet provides the only hope of a lasting peace in Kenya. Through the coalition, its thought that all major ethnic groups will be represented in government. The US ambassador has been instrumental in getting Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga to the negotiating table.

100 year old railway vandalized in political wrangling

The 100 year old Kenya – Uganda railway lies in ruins thanks to political wrangles following disputed elections in December last year.

Security forces patrol Nairobi’s Kibera slums where another 500 metres of the railway line was ripped in protests over the delay in naming of a new Cabinet. Picture by East African Standard.

Supporters of ODM leader Raila Odinga uprooted hundreds of metres of the country’s strategic railway links in protest over a delay in formation of a coalition cabinet by President Mwai Kibaki. Mr Odinga will be the Prime Minister in the coalition. A 40 member cabinet due to be announced last Sunday has been delayed indefinitely following disagreements between Odinga and Kibaki. Both Odinga’s ODM and Kibaki’s PNU want to control the ministries of foreign affairs, local government, transport, cabinet affairs and energy.

The cabinet stand off has raised fears of fresh violence between supporters of the two. Violence in January this year claimed the lives of 1,500 people after disputed elections. 300,000 people remain homeless with little prospects of returning home without a coalition government in place.

The Kenya – Uganda Railway, built by British colonialists at the beginning of the 1900s is Kenya’s link to the port of Mombasa. The railway also serves Western Kenya and Uganda. The first time Raila’s supporters uprooted the railway line was in January this year. The youths said they were cutting off supplies to Uganda, whose President had been the first to recognize President Kibaki’s election to a second term of office. Raila’s supporters say their man was robbed of victory.

Prior to this year’s violence, the Kenya – Uganda railway had lived through 24 years of former President Daniel arap Moi’s rule which was characterized by corruption and pro-democracy riots. There was even a short-lived coup in 1982. The railway survived the Mau Mau insurgency of the 1950s. During World War 2, the Kenya Uganda Railway was a vital supply link for British forces fighting the Italians in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). A branch line was built from Nairobi to Nanyuki for this purpose. The railway almost went bankrupt during the global economic depression of the 1920s while during World War 1, it was a target of German forces operating from Tanganyika (now Tanzania).

This railway link, which contributed to the existence of Kenya as a state, is now the victim of politicking that threatens to tear apart the country.