Ten managers at Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) were reportedly arrested on 18 January as the government continues its investigation into the recent three-day nationwide power outage.
According to reports, police apprehended the managers who were summoned to record statements at DCI headquarters in Nairobi. The men were taken to Muthaiga Police Station for the night.
Among those arrested is the General Manager in charge of the network, Rapahel Ndolo.
The suspects questioned by police have been held as investigators probe whether negligence or sabotage led to the countrywide power outage last week.
The suspects will appear before a judge on Wednesday, January 19, and the DCI is expected to file an application to hold them as further investigations proceed.
DCI detectives questioned 18 officials at the power utility company on January 15, including five senior officers, over the collapse of four towers in the Nairobi – Kiambere High Voltage Power transmission line.
The senior officials grilled by the DCI were the Acting General Manager, Network Management, Chief Engineer Transmission countrywide, Countrywide Management Security Service Unit, the Chief Security Officer Nairobi Region and a technician.
A team of investigators from the Serious Crime Unit, Crime Scene Investigators, and Forensic Photographic Investigators, who visited the site of the collapsed power lines, reported that someone had vandalized the angle towers.
The investigators also found that the cross beams had been removed and unbolted a scenario that had the angle towers caving in.
“Since the angle towers had been vandalized, they could not support the weight of the conductors which are very heavy as well as the tower itself,” the DCI statement read.
A former official at Kenya Power has explained what caused the recent widespread power outages that resulted in losses of millions of shillings as businesses were disrupted.
