On behalf of the business community of Godjope centre in Migori county and its environs, I am sending a passionate plea to Kenya Power to urgently get us out of a blackout that has lasted now close to four months.
Why would your consumers, whom you highly regard, be in darkness for this long? Unless it is direct sabotage of a region or neglect of rural economies.
We have a binding contract with you but you have chosen to neglect our plight, maybe because we are rural class and we don't deserve better. Probably because we have no choice because you enjoy monopoly in the sector.
To say the least, I find your approach and treatment of your rural customers disgraceful.
Let me take you up to speed on this matter, Mr MD, for you may be oblivious to our plight, totally in the dark over our frustration.
The transformer serving the area was damaged by lightning, throwing the area into darkness. Traders in the thriving centre depend on electricity to run their businesses and they are now counting immense losses due to lack of electricity.
Artisans in this small village centre use electricity for welding, in furniture workshops, barber shops and for lighting their shops, to run coolers/fridges in their shops too.
From the time the area was plunged into darkness, we have also seen a spike in crime in the shopping centre, with hoodlums taking advantage of the darkness to mug people and break into shops.
Some businesses have closed shop and relocated. The lack of electricity for close to four months is strangling businesses, literally.
It should not take a big corporation like Kenya Power over three months to fix a transformer, knowing too well that the life of small traders is hinged on their power grid.
The traders cannot afford more downtimes as some are servicing huge loans and are at risk of losing it all, should the lenders come knocking for defaulting.
Kenya Power managers in charge of rural depots are literally asleep on the job when rural economies are suffering. Let them be informed that rural economies are supporting lives, employing thousands and to spur further growth, require steady supply of electricity.
