According to David Ndii, the chair of President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisers, Kenyans have two options when it comes to the cost of electricity: accept the high expenses or prepare for regular power outages.
“We have two options when it comes to power costs. Costly electricity accessible 24 hours a day, or cheap power available a few hours a day, as in SA. If you read our manifesto, you would have noticed that cheap power does not appear in our commitments on electricity,” Ndii stated in a tweet on Thursday.
The economic expert went on to say that the Kenya Kwanza administration never promised Kenyans affordable power in their pre-election campaign before the August elections.
The current electricity bills, according to Ndii, are the consequence of high production expenses, such as the fuel required for generating and water levies.
Ndii argues that Kenya Kwanza pledged to lower production costs.
“Take your time to grasp what you’re reading. I stated that we did not offer “cheap power.” Lowering costs here refers to manufacturing expenses rather than tariffs. “The mentioned are large medium-term capital projects that will not result in tariff reductions very soon,” he stated.
The economist is referencing to the Kenya Kwanza manifesto, which includes power under the “Infrastructure” pillar.
His remarks came in the wake of Kenyans’ protests over the increasing cost of power.
This is among the reasons that really has contributed to the rising cost of living.