Kenya on Friday night plunged into total darkness due to a power outage, which Kenya Power attributed to a “system disturbance.”
The agency stated that the disturbance subsequently led to the “loss of bulk power supply to various parts of the country.”
“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience caused,” the power utility firm said.
While power outages are not uncommon in Kenya, the sudden darkness at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) took many by surprise and escalated into widespread public frustration and anger.
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) revealed that the airport’s power outage was due to the failure of one of its generators to start.
After the unprecedented scenario at Kenya’s largest international airport, which left passengers stranded, Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen issued an apology.
“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,” he said in a X post.
After the blackout at JKIA, Murkomen expressed his determination to take measures, and he had a scheduled announcement for the next course of action on Saturday.
Kenya Power restored power at the airport and in various regions across the country after a duration of almost five hours.
As of Saturday, certain areas including Nairobi continued to experience power outages, despite assurances from the utility firm that they were tirelessly working to address the problem.
“We are working to restore normalcy in all other areas as soon as possible,” read in part the Kenya Power statement.
