Truce? Nairobi County, Kenya Power resolve debt standoff

The dispute between the Nairobi City County Government (NCCG) and Kenya Power has been resolved following a high-level meeting chaired by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei.

The meeting, held Wednesday, February 26, brought together Governor Johnson Sakaja, Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi, and other senior officials.

In a statement, Sakaja acknowledged that they had reached an agreement with Kenya Power on how to clear the outstanding debt.

“We have agreed to end the brawl, after we sat down, talked and agreed. Personally I was not happy. The lorries were supposed to just block access to the building, which is something the law allows but not dumping garbage there. That is why the garbage was picked shortly after,” said Sakaja.

He added that following today’s meeting, the county had removed the trucks blocking entrance to Stima Plaza, and would restore disrupted services, including water supply.

“We will restore water and any other services that were disrupted because we have agreed on how they will pay the debt. We had agreed on how we will pay our debt in installments which dates back so many years. We have to pay debt from the past and the current one,” he added.

Hours before Sakaja’s address, the Kenya Power and Kenya Power Pension Fund sued NCCG over the debt standoff, arguing that staff and tenants could not access the premises due to the garbage bloackade outside Stima Plaza.

The dispute began Monday morning when county garbage trucks dumped waste outside the building, leaving Kenya Power employees and tenants stranded.

County officials defended the move, saying services were disrupted due to unpaid debts owed by Kenya Power.

In response, Kenya Power denied the claims, instead revealing that the Nairobi County government owed it an outstanding electricity bill.

“On the claim that we owe the County money arising from wayleaves charges, we wish to state that Section 223 of the Energy Act, 2019 expressly states that ‘no public body shall charge levies on public energy infrastructure without the consent of the Cabinet Secretary in writing,” stated the power company.

The utility company condemned the county’s actions, terming them “unethical, unprofessional, and unlawful.”

Kenya Power maintained that it would only settle any outstanding debt upon approval by Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi.