Residents of Kaguama village in Gatundu North, Kiambu County are up in arms with their local leaders and Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) over the longstanding failure to connect them with electricity.
Since time immemorial, residents at the remote village that is tucked at the very end corner of the constituency have been using tin lamps.
The lamps that use paraffin and a cotton wick that is usually threaded through the top tube and then lit are now claimed to have been causing respiratory diseases, especially among school-going children who use them to do school assignments and studies.
According to locals, failure by the government to connect them with the power grid has had a negative impact on the education of their children who have been performing dismally besides occasioning poor health and environmental issues.
Electricity connectivity
Over the years, the residents decried that power connectivity has been used as fodder by politicians during every electioneering period only to be abandoned once the politicians they give power to represent them rise to big offices.
Struggling with darkness every night, the locals regretted that the village has been faced with a myriad of security challenges, a situation that kills the spirit of a 24-hour working economy in the area.
“Our children are the most affected as they study under the shade of tin lamps which produce certain gases that are not good for their health. We have been like this for years and the only thing that politicians do is lie to us, it’s like we don’t belong to Kenya.
“If you compare our children and those who study using electricity, the comparison is not even there. Ours perform very poorly because tin lamps are not comfortable,” Mary Njeri, a resident, said.
Leah Gakumo, a community leader said they have struggled over the years as leaders continually lie to them.
“The government officials have been coming here, taking our details including our documents but we hardly see results. We are often told that our grid has been transferred elsewhere,” decried Gakumo.
“This village is either rejected or does not exist in Gatundu North or in the country. It’s been crazy without both electricity and motorable roads, this village is not ideal for growth without those two key things,” Gakumo added.
The irked residents called on the current Gatundu North and the country’s leadership to intervene and connect them to the national grid to bring to an end years of struggles.
