All public facilities and households will be connected to electricity by the end of the 2020/2021 financial year, the Rural Electrification Authority has said. [Photo: Standard]

All public facilities and households will be connected to electricity by the end of the 2020/2021 financial year, the Rural Electrification Authority has said.

By end of last year, 23,588 or 99 per cent of all public primary schools had been connected and only 237 were remaining, according to the authority.

The Rural Electrification Authority (REA) said it spent Sh13.8 billion in 2016/17, with 96 per cent of the amount being capital expenditure while 4 per cent was utilised as recurrent. Auditor General Edward Ouko has given the authority's board chaired by Simon Gicharu a clean bill of health.

“...I can confirm that nothing has come to my attention to cause me to believe that public money has not been applied lawfully and in an effective way,” Mr Ouko said in the report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

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In an interview, Dr Gicharu said the focus of REA would be to create efficiency and ensure that majority of Kenyans benefited from rural electrification.

He said the authority was committed to supporting the Government’s Big Four agenda, adding that REA had identified the manufacturing sector as one key area of focus.

“REA is ready to support the Big Four agenda by expanding electrification to all rural areas in order to ensure the manufacturing component is achieved through cottage industries,” he said.