Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen claimed credit for reducing the generator delay time at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) from 2 hours to about 30 minutes.
Murkomen believes he has worked tirelessly to resolve power hitches during nationwide blackouts.
“A month ago there was a blackout and the generator did not kick in, the explanation I got was that the synchronization was not successful. It took about twenty minutes, the August one took about two hours, they said they sorted,” Murkonen stated.
In August, the airport’s management procured two generators, but they failed to function efficiently due to unsuccessful synchronization.
The same technical issue occurred during a second blackout in November.
Murkomen acknowledges that although he couldn’t completely eliminate the problem, he has at least provided a remedy by reducing the delay time.
“People say that I promised the country that it will not happen again, but you must give me credit to the fact that I reduced the madness from two hours to 20 or 30 minutes. It should take at most one minute, a good one should take about 5 seconds.”
To address the issue permanently, the government plans to procure two more generators as secondary backups.
Murkomen also intends to strengthen the human resource responsible for finding long-term solutions.
“All those positions we are now filling them so that we have the human resource that is going to do the job. Everything depends on the human resource,”Murkonen stated.
However, Energy counterpart Davis Chirchir warns of another blackout if investment in the electricity supply sector is not prioritized.
Overloaded power supply lines exacerbate the transmission of electricity to homes in Kenya.
Chirchir emphasizes the need for serious maintenance and investment in the network.
We know where the problem is and we are addressing those challenges. It’s bound to happen again but we will look at serious maintenance. The least of it is lack of investment in the network for a long time,”CS Chirchir noted.
President Ruto also announces plans to construct a sh 66 billion power line to tackle the ongoing blackouts.
