Fake news: Transformers were not planted for President Ruto's launch
President William Ruto at the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Kisii County Cancer Treatment Centre in Nyaribari Chache Constituency, Kisii County.
What you need to know:
- On August 9, after Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi’s first assignment in Murang’a County, social media was awash with talk that the ministry removed transformers from Maragua constituency to power Kiharu constituency villages to allegedly justify President Ruto's visit.
- When Nation.Africa team moved to the ground to confirm the claim, we found residents in Kiharu's Marewa village where the programme was launched.
Speculation on social media over an alleged plot by the government to remove transformers from a Last Mile project launched by President William Ruto last week and re-installed in their alleged previous locations has been confirmed as fake.
On August 9, after Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi’s first assignment in Murang’a County, social media was awash with talk that the ministry removed transformers from Maragua constituency to power Kiharu constituency villages to allegedly justify President Ruto's visit.
The Nation spot check
When Nation.Africa team moved to the ground to confirm the claim, we found residents in Kiharu's Marewa village where the programme was launched.
Contrary to the reports, the electricity projects Dr Ruto powered on in Murang'a during his tour of the region is shining bright.
"You can see that our three transformers are intact and have been here for the past four months...they have never been moved and we are surprised to hear that they were fitted a few days before the president visited us to connect us to the grid," said Ms Damaris Muthoni, a resident.
She added that "if Kenol transformers are missing we are sorry for them but we want to confirm that they did not disappear to our village".
Mr John Mwangi Kimani said, "We are supposed to play mature politics where we must stop scandalising development projects, especially this electricity one that we have been waiting for since independence".
He said the raging divisions among Mt Kenya region leaders were to blame for the attempts to scandalise the president's cause.
He said he was part of casual labourers in the project "and I can assure you we are happy for the gains, both in earning and receiving lights for the first time of our life here in this village".
In Kenol town, the Nation team found the transformers that were said to have been moved, they were intact.
"We are surprised that we have been drawn in this fiasco for reasons that we do not comprehend," Maragua MP Mary wa Maua told Nation.Africa on phone.
She confirmed there were three days that some parts of Kenol had power interruptions but it had nothing to do with Dr Ruto's visit.
"The interruptions were between August 1 to 3 occasioned by Kenya Power technical maintenance programme. The supply hitch had nothing to do with the president or his tour of launching Last Mile connectivity in both Kiharu and Mathioya constituencies," she said.
"As area MP, and you people know me well, there was no way I could have been party to that political gimmick, such that when I tell you there was no monkey business in the president's tour, you should believe me".
Her sentiments were echoed by Murang'a South Deputy County Commissioner Mr Gitonga Murungi.
He said, "We were alarmed to hear those claims and our seniors deployed us to the ground for a fact-finding mission and the report we filed is that the presidential function had no mischief from any quarters".
"We have come to attribute the claims to bad competition politics but as a government, we remain on course to deliver national projects in a transformational manner".
During Mr Wandayi’s first assignment, the Cabinet Secretary declared that the county had a budget of Sh1.2 billion set aside for power connections in 2024 alone.
