Recently, claims about an alleged electric disconnection in City Hall by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) have been circulating. A tweet indicates that the Nairobi City County clamped all KPLC vehicles parked along Stima Plaza.
We look into the legitimacy of these claims.
Background
KPLC is a Kenyan company operating most of the country’s transmission and distribution of electricity.
Over the years, KPLC has been having a back and forth with the Nairobi City County over unpaid electricity bills. In a press statement dated June 7, 2018, KPLC says;
“The High Court dismissed a case filed by the Nairobi city County against Kenya Power, over a Sh543 million bill that the City Hall had accumulated for a period up to September 2016.”
KPLC further adds that between September 1, 2016, and April 31, 2018, the county had accrued an additional Sh447 million in debt.
Verification
Running a reverse image search, the KPLC vehicle being towed first appeared on the internet as early as June 6, 2018. In this tweet despite the Kenya Power & Lighting Company having paid the parking fees in advance, this vehicle still got towed.
More results show that this same image has previously been flagged by AfricaCheck, PesaCheck and Business Today. According to Capital FM, the City Hall had its electricity disconnected due to outstanding bills which amounted to Sh447 million.
These “accrued bills relate to power supplied to different premises and installations through accounts that relate to Nairobi City County,” says this press release. KPLC disconnected only two of these accounts after numerous requests for payment and failing to provide any proposal for payment of the accrued bills.
Additionally, this same image was flagged by KPLC as being fake.
Verdict
Claims that Nairobi City County recently towed KPLC’s vehicle for disconnecting the county’s power supply are MISLEADING.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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