Lawmakers now want Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and Nairobi City County officials who authorised the dumping of garbage at the entrance of Kenya Power offices following their current financial feud to be arrested.
Some of the MPs went to as far as proposing that Nairobi should be placed under the management of the military the same way it was during the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
The lawmakers who sit in the Energy Committee chaired by Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka said Sakaja and his team are criminals who should be held accountable for their actions.
At a meeting with Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi, the lawmakers told the CS not to engage Sakaja on the said matter as it is of a criminal nature and instead should have it reported to the police to have him compelled to record a statement.
“I don’t know if we have reached the point that when we consume electricity and when you are told to pay you go and bring filth and dump it on the door. This should not happen at all. This is a criminal act. CS why are you entertaining this, you should not do that. No one is above the law,” Musyoka said.
Decline to pay
“Why should we have some governors stealing billions of shillings and then decline to pay for electricity they have consumed. We are telling you that if they defy to pay, go to their offices and disconnect power for them,” the Mwala lawmaker said.
Nambale MP Geoffrey Mulanya told Wandayi not to negotiate with criminals.
He said: “Why should you negotiate with criminals for doing your work? What you should do is to ensure that this governor, who is a criminal, is held accountable.” Committee vice chairperson and Narok East MP Lemanken Aramat said KP should be respected as it is not a political entity. Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo said Nairobi should be governed by the military as they are the ones who are able to restore sanity in the county.
He said: “We should not do elections in Nairobi. We just have elections in 46 counties and let the military take over in Nairobi county so that we can have order.”
Embakasi North MP James Gakuya told off Sakaja over his decision to dump the waste and instead told him to clear the pending bills that the county owes Kenya Power.
Filth moved
Their sentiments came hours after Wandayi disclosed that his efforts to have the filth removed were ignored yet Kenya Power does not owe Nairobi City County Government anything.
Wandayi, who disclosed that he had instructed Kenya Power to report the matter to the police, claimed that the Nairobi City County government owes Kenya Power Sh2.95 billion in terms of bills.
He said it is regrettable that the county had gone ahead to dump filth yet Kenya Power on Friday halted its decision to power off the county as it had agreed to pay Sh 150 million to settle some of the bills.
He said: “I did engage with Governor Sakaja yesterday on the phone. I did implore him to restore normalcy before we can sit down and address issues amicably and he assured me that he would do that. However, as of now nothing has happened.”
Further he disputed claims that Kenya Power has not paid way leaves as being alleged by the Nairobi City County government. Nairobi County slapped KP with a demand for Sh 5.13 billion pending bills for wayleave charges in Nairobi.
He said: “Nairobi City County government is alleging that Kenya Power has not paid for way leaves for the energy infrastructure even though this is not connected to the issue at hand. I would like to explain that under the energy act 2013, it is clear that no public body shall charge levies on infrastructure without approval from the CS energy and so far, no consent has been given.”
The decision of the members came hardly a day after the county decided to dump heaps of garbage at the entrance of the utility’s Stima Plaza headquarters in Nairobi and clamped company vehicles, because the company disconnected power over a Sh3.1 billion unpaid bill.
The county also disconnected water to various Kenya power institutions including Stima Plaza as well as blocked the sewer lines.
