Chairman of President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisors, David Ndii now says that Kenya Kwanza did not promise Kenyans cheap electricity.
In a statement on Thursday, Ndii insisted that it was not in their Kenya Kwanza manifesto during campaigns.
He went on to say that on the high cost of electricity, Kenyans only have two options, one of which is to have it expensive, but available round the clock.
The second option, he said was to have it cheap and be like South Africa where they only have power available for a few hours a day.
“On power bills, we have two choices. Costly power available 24/7, or cheap power available a few hours a day, like SA. If you cared to peruse our manifesto, you would have noted that cheap power does not feature in our pledges on electricity,” Ndii said.
His remarks come against the backdrop of complaints by Kenyans over the rising cost of electricity.
It is among the other factors that have made the cost of living expensive.
In the Kenya Kwanza manifesto, however, the Ruto administration promised to lower the cost of electricity in a three-point plan.
“Improve reliability, bring down the cost of electricity. We propose a three-point plan to bring down the cost of power namely; Mobilise the resources needed to revamp the transmission and distribution network; Accelerate geothermal resources development;
“Develop Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) storage facility in Mombasa, with a view to phasing out heavy fuel oil (HFO) from the power generation portfolio. This will also contribute to meeting Kenya’s emission reduction commitments;
“Enforce transparency and public accountability of the electricity sector. Require the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)to publish quarterly system, financial and operational performance reports,” the manifesto reads on electricity.
