• Francis Macharia Githinji was nabbed by the EACC officers who had handed over the treated money to Jenaro Namu, the complainant which he used as a bribe.
Image: FILE
A Kenya Power employee has been arrested by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officers for demanding a bribe of Sh50,000 from a customer to reconnect electricity supply to his house in Kerugoya.
Francis Macharia Githinji was nabbed by the EACC officers who had handed over the treated money to Jenaro Namu, the complainant which he used as a bribe.
The arrest comes less than a fortnight after another employee was arraigned at the Makadara law courts for consuming unmetered electricity.
Consequently, Kenya Power has decided to increase surveillance on the grid network as a measure to address rampant cases of illegal connections, vandalism, bypassing of meters and fraud involving transactions for payment of bills, electricity connection and purchase of electricity tokens.
"The company has established a special response team called the Field Enforcement Unit (FEU) that works closely with security agencies to promptly address cases of illegal connections," Kenya Power said in a statement.
"Since the beginning of the current financial year, a total of 630 people have been arrested across the country and prosecuted for various crimes relating to theft of electricity and fraud. Out of these, 115 people have already been convicted while more than 110 employees have been sacked for aiding these crimes".
Meanwhile, another seven suspects were arrested in various parts of the country for aiding illegal power connections in separate security operations. yesterday.
The suspects, Daniel Mutua Murimi and Margaret Wanjiku Wanjohi were arrested at Makadara within Nairobi County for consuming electricity that was illegally connected and were booked at Makongeni Police Station.
In Keringani sub location of Lolgorian division, Alfred Kipkirui Cheruiyot was arrested for construction of illegal lines. A total of six prepaid meters and 120 meters of service cable were recovered during the exercise to weed out illegal connections in the area.
Elsewhere in Kisian, a security team on night patrol impounded a vehicle ferrying two electric poles belonging to Kenya Power that were intended for use in the construction of illegal lines in Holo and Seme, within Kisumu county. Four suspects on board were arrested.
All the suspects were booked at various police stations and will be charged in court once the prevailing situation normalises.