Kisii Governor James Ongwae seeks power for Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital

Kisii Governor James Ongwae has asked the Kenya Power company to build a power line specifically for the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital (KTRH) and Kisii University.

Speaking at the launch of the Boresha Umeme Operation at Nyangena sub-station, Mr Ongwae said KTRH serves over five counties with an estimated population of three million visiting the hospital annually.

"We have new dialysis machines in the hospital and other modern equipment for our theatres and what we want is a dedicated line independent of outside users so that power outages will not affect such a big facility," said Ongwae.

BLAME POVERTY

He said hospitals need an uninterrupted power supply even in instances where there are planned power interruptions.

The governor said other than the hospital, statistics derived from the Central Bank in Kisumu indicate that Kisii controls over 60 per cent of the money market in Nyanza and for this, Kenya Power should consider the region a vital business hub.

Ongwae also promised to work with road contractors to open up roads for power connectivity.

The governor also asked the parliamentary committee on energy to help reduce power charges for the poor.

But Kenya Power CEO Ben Chumo said the public should not blame their inability to connect power on poverty because they can get credit facilities from banks that have minimal interest rates.

"By the end of this year we shall have 47 county managers so that the issue of power connections can be handled at county level. What we are doing now is identifying all the networking problems and and planning for a five-day operation that will see all issues corrected in the counties," said Mr Chumo.