Residents demand power restoration after two weeks in the dark

An electricity pole that fell in Otange village, Ndhiwa sub-county, Homa Bay county. [James Omoro, Standard]

Residents of some villages in Ndhiwa sub-county have lamented over power outage that has lasted for two weeks.

The area was plunged in darkness after two electricity poles fell in Otange village near Sukari Industry.

On Tuesday, residents of the affected area including Otange village in Kanyikela ward and Amoyo village in Kanyadoto ward decried the situation saying it had disrupted development activities.

Traders at Amoyo Trading Centre who rely on electricity have been forced to temporarily close business.

Amoyo Health Centre which serves residents from more than seven villages has been hard hit by the power outage.

Tom Ondiri, a resident, failed to get vaccination at the health facility.

“Our health center is badly affected by the power outage. It cannot offer vaccination services to our children and this will culminate in serious health conditions,” Ondiri said.

Jecinter Akinyi, a salon operator said power outage had paralysed business.

“It has reached a point where we cannot serve our customers because of lack of electricity. This situation denies us our source of livelihood that helps us feed our families and pay school fees,” she said.

Lawrence Omoro, a resident, said the power outage has crippled economic activities.

“Electricity has become a necessity in wealth creation in Kenya today. Denying us electricity means we are being blocked from participating in economic growth of this country,” Omoro said.

He said the situation had also led to insecurity in the area.

This comes as many parts of Homa Bay county suffer persistent power outage.

Fredrick Otieno, regretted that the power outage is also interfering with learning in local schools especially at this time when candidates are sitting for Kenya Primary School Education Assessment and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations.

The residents called on the Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi to intervene and electricity restored to the area.