Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Kipchumba Murkomen, has issued an apology to passengers and vowed to take action following a blackout that plunged Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) into darkness on Friday night.
The power outage, which affected various regions of the country, persisted for nearly two hours at the airport following the failure of backup generators. This resulted in service disruptions and left passengers stranded.
Murkomen to meet JKIA leadership
Murkomen has scheduled a meeting with the JKIA management for Saturday at 9:00 a.m., during which he intends to announce the decisions that will be made in response to the situation.
In a statement, Murkomen expressed regret for the blackout at JKIA, insisting that there is no valid excuse for the airport to be without power.
“I am really sorry for what has happened at JKIA with the blackout. There is no excuse worth reporting, and there is no reason why our airport is in darkness. I will be announcing the decision we will make tomorrow at 9 am at JKIA after a meeting with the leadership of the airport. Once again, I am sorry,” he said in a statement.
Several parts affected
The power outage had widespread effects, impacting areas such as Nairobi, Rift Valley, Central, and Western Kenya.
Dear CS @kipmurkomen: How would anyone sane justify failure of generators at #JKIA with or without Kenya Power #blackout?
☆ It’s inconceivable. How a regional hub airport can be plunged into darkness then we purport to imagine all is well?
☆ We must minimise the pain and… pic.twitter.com/dFew62imA0— Stephen Mutoro (@smutoro) August 25, 2023
Kenya Power released a statement on Friday attributing the outage to a system disturbance and pledged to work diligently to restore power as quickly as possible.
“At 2145hrs, we experienced a system disturbance leading to the loss of bulk power supply to various parts of the country. We are working in collaboration with teams from all involved sector partners to facilitate the speedy restoration of power supply in the shortest time possible,” the statement from Kenya Power read.
