NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 3 – The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and Embu County have signed a deal to transform local lives..
Under the agreement, the two will cooperate on emergency-related projects as well as long-term initiatives. Key areas being climate change and locals affected by power installations in the country.
The signing was witnessed by Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire, and KenGen’s Ag. Managing Director and CEO Abraham Serem.
“KenGen is an important stakeholder to us and has been part of our community for many years, we are delighted to partner with you for the benefit of the people of Embu County even as you continue with your mandate to serve the people of Kenya,” said Governor Mbarire.
The Governor singled out water and electricity connections as top priorities in the county, for which she requested KenGen’s help over the next three months.
Serem noted that KenGen was ready to work with the host counties to implement development projects in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility policy.
“Today we had a very fruitful meeting with the Embu County Governor, Her Excellency Hon. Cecily Mbarire where we explored areas of partnership with the County Government with an aim of improving the lives of Kenyans,” said Serem.
The NSE-listed company’s CEO underscored the important role that Embu County plays in the energy generation business, noting that it hosts some of the largest hydroelectric dams in the country, which KenGen uses to produce low-cost electricity for Kenyans.
He concluded by emphasizing that hydroelectricity has been the mainstay of power generation in Kenya for a long time, having been the first big power station to be constructed in the country.
The CEO, however, noted that this was no longer the case, saying that hydropower was greatly affected by weather vagaries and only became reliable during good rains.
“We have had four successive seasons where we received low inflows in our dams due to the prolonged drought but we have been able to implement a robust water management program to ensure that we still generate electricity using the available water,” said Serem.
