MP Nimrod Mbai Kitui home, business premises rocked by power cuts
Kitui East MP Nimrod Mbai (left) leaving Kitengela Police Station on Wednesday accompanied by his lawyer. He is under investigation for allegedly assaulting a Kenya Power Company employee.
Kenya Power has disconnected electricity at the rural home of Kitui East MP Nimrod Mbai in Zombe area in Kitui County, days after he assaulted the utility firm’s engineer in Kitengela.
The operation was undertaken after preliminary investigations established that the MP had not been paying electricity bills at his rural home since 2015 when the power connection was apparently illegally done.
The Kenya Power engineers who were dispatched from Nairobi under heavy security escort descended on the MP's rural home on Friday afternoon and conducted an inspection before disconnecting the power supply.
There was some commotion when the team proceeded to the MP's business premises at Zombe market, where a group of youths confronted the engineers demanding they stop the operation.
They were quickly repulsed back by the armed security officers accompanying the KPLC staff.
The Kenya Power team took away electric power meters said to belong to the County Government of Kitui and which were meant for street lighting in the area.
Kenya Power Kitui Regional Manager John Wanyoike confirmed the operation saying the electricity connection to the MP's premises was illegal and was not done by the utility firm.
"We established that the power meters at his place belong to the County Government and not Kenya Power. We suspect they were installed on street lights," said Mr Wanyoike.
A junior staff who requested anonymity, because he is not authorised to speak for Kenya Power, revealed that the Kitui office has been in constant run-ins with the MP for a long time.
"It is not the first time we have disconnected the power supply at Mr Mbai’s home but every time we took action, he used unorthodox means to reconnect the supply," said the junior Kenya Power staff.
At the business premises owned by Mr Mbai in Zombe market, the operation left tenants in shock and darkness.
The enhanced scrutiny of the MP's alleged illegal activities with the power grid comes only four days after he was caught on camera assaulting a KPLC engineer in Kitengela, Kajiado County.
The assaulted engineer had been sent to disconnect an illegal electricity connection at Mr Mbai’s Kitengela home. The incident happened on Monday afternoon.
In the video, the MP is seen trying to pull what looks like a pistol from his waist.
Mr Mbai turned himself in at Kitengela police station where detectives confiscated his gun after hours of interrogation.
The MP was released on a cash bail of Sh50,000 and is set to be arraigned in court on July 11.
Kenya Power Managing, Joseph Siror, Friday evening promised a comprehensive statement over the operation by his staff.
