Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen
| File | Nation Media GroupNews
Premium
How CS Murkomen became the face of national power outages
Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has quickly become known as the 'face' of Kenya's blackouts, taking most of the blame for a disgrace that should have fallen on his Energy counterpart Davis Chirchir.
Mr Chirchir, who served in the same portfolio under President Uhuru Kenyatta's regime until he was forced to resign after being named among the corrupt in a report to parliament, has been relatively safe and has felt little of the wrath of citizens whose businesses have been disrupted.
Even a 'demand' by Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga that Mr Chirchir be sacked for the blackouts was withdrawn by the county boss, who later said he had actually been with the minister at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) when the power went out and had seen him making frantic phone calls to find out the cause.
Enter Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen, the former two-term senator from Elgeyo Marakwet who resigned his Senate seat to take up the Cabinet role.
After an August blackout left JKIA, the region's busiest airport and a major transport hub, without power, Mr Murkomen vowed it would never happen again.
Such was his resolve that the Kenya Airports Authority managing director, Alex Gitari, was sent home with Mr Henry Ogoye taking over in an acting capacity.
However, there were more power outages on November 11 and December 10, the latest of which affected operations at Terminals 1A and 1E.
For almost an hour last week, passengers were stranded at the international airfield, using the lights on their mobile phones to navigate the complex structure in search of their flights and exits.
In his defence, the Transport Ministry boss said that some unidentified people were frustrating the government's efforts to ensure efficiency at JKIA.
A day after the power outage, Mr Murkomen wrote to the Inspector General of Police, Japhet Koome, to investigate possible acts of sabotage and cover-up following the constant blackouts at the airport.
“Considering the frequency of the power disruption, and taking into account the fact that JKIA is a facility of strategic national importance, we are making a formal request to the National Police Service to investigate possible acts of sabotage and cover-up,” CS Murkomen said.
The following day, while at the North Rift OKM Peace Cup match in Baringo, the Transport CS vowed to bring to book the saboteurs who allegedly disrupted JKIA’s generators, adding that he was working with the authorities to expose the culprits.
“I have been informed that the JKIA generator that failed the other day was due to sabotage. [I] was with IG Koome today after writing to him about it; you will soon see how we will bring those responsible to justice,” he said.
His sentiments did not sit well with his archrival, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, who slammed the CS and demanded that Murkomen apologise to Kenyans for the JKIA mess, terming the blackouts a 'national shame'.
“A few months ago, the Transport CS went to JKIA and fired individuals and told the country that generators have been fixed, but yesterday it was a disaster. How can you lose electricity and a generator at a crucial national asset like JKIA? The CS must apologise to Kenyans,” he said.
Explaining the blackouts, Energy CS Chirchir said there had been an overload on the power line which "felt threatened and it tripped" and "cascaded down to the rest of the country". He also said that the State had taken measures to tame the perennial power outages in the country.
“We have not invested much in the networks. We plan on giving out a number of networks to be built by private firms. This will ease the pressure," he said.
