•He said such vandalism acts translate to economic sabotage since the said infrastructures can bring the country’s activities to a standstill if they don’t operate optimally.
•According to police reports, parts of the destroyed power transmission lines were sold as scrap metal by the perpetrators.
Image: PSCU
President Uhuru Kenyatta has warned that persons found culpable of vandalising critical development infrastructure will be charged with treason.
He said such vandalism acts translate to economic sabotage since the said infrastructures can bring the country’s activities to a standstill if they don’t operate optimally.
He urged the police to execute their mandate without fear or favour as the country prepares for the August polls.
“We have seen different signboards being taken down, towers of our transmission lines and also cases of sabotage, as in the case of Naivasha where people have intentionally unbolted some of our transmission lines to create chaos and havoc,” Uhuru said.
“The law is clear that these are acts of economic sabotage which falls as a treasonable act and the law is clear as to how you deal with treasonable acts and people who plunge the country into chaos for their own selfish needs.”
He said the government will temporarily ban the export, buying and selling of scrap materials to contain acts of vandalism on critical infrastructure.
According to police reports, parts of the destroyed power transmission lines were sold as scrap metal by the perpetrators.
“As of today we will no longer allow and we have a moratorium on the export or buying and selling of any scrap material until we have put in place proper guidelines that will ensure that the material is not coming from the hard material investments the people of Kenya have made,” he said.
His sentiments came a day after a Kiambu court on Wednesday ordered the detention of nine senior Kenya Power employees, for a further eight days, to allow for investigations over their alleged involvement in the countrywide power outages experienced in different parts of the country last week.
It is alleged that the nine suspects’ indecisiveness to act on a tip-off highlighting the destruction and vandalism of power lines subsequently led to the nationwide blackout.
The managers are to be charged with committing terrorist acts and sabotage after police, in an affidavit, argued that the failure to act on the reports about vandalism to Kenya Power high voltage lines that led to the countrywide outage was deliberate and calculated.
Uhuru spoke on Thursday at the National Police Service College in Kiganjo where he oversaw the passing out parade of a fresh cohort of 300 cadets.
He urged the fresh cadets to carry out their duties as per NPS’ legal mandate without fear or favour and intimidation from any quota
“I urge you to rise over the expectation of many. Anything you do whether in uniform or not, remember you have solemnly sworn to the government to serve in dignity. I urge each of you graduates to serve this country with fidelity,” Uhuru said.
The President hailed the graduation of the cadet officers, 220 male and 78, as historical saying 35,400 officers had joined the National Police Service during his administration.
He said the growing number of police officers is part of the ongoing retooling of the security sector to make Kenya a secure and peaceful nation.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris