Uhuru Govt Bought Fake JKIA Generators- Gachagua Comes To Murkomen's Rescue

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has come to the aid of Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen regarding the numerous power outages at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), linking them to former President Uhuru Kenyatta's government.

Speaking on Thursday, December 14 during the Kimalel Goat Auction and Cultural Festival in Baringo County also graced by President William Ruto, Gachagua stated that several political factions were calling for Murkomen to resign over matters that were beyond his control.

The second-in-command accused the previous regime of purportedly buying counterfeit generators which would switch off anytime they would be activated to provide supplementary power to the country's biggest airport.

The generators were bought by the previous government and they are fake. CS Murkomen should just buy and install new ones- DP Gachagua#ViralVideos pic.twitter.com/nLKYmHOGCm — Viral Tea Ke (@ViralTeaKe) December 14, 2023

"CS Kipchumba has made a lot of announcements regarding what is going on, and he is trying. I saw others criticizing him and calling for his resignation because the generator refused to work at JKIA.

"Did Kipchumba buy those generators? The previous regime bought them and they were fake. When someone tries to turn them on, they turn off," he revealed.

Gachagua, while seemingly referring to Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei's criticism of Murkomen regarding the series of blackouts at JKIA, urged leaders to spare him the criticism.

He claimed that 'enemies of progress' were trying to pin blame on the current administration for the outages that have raised concerns among Kenyans regarding JKIA's operations.

As a result, Gachagua tasked Murkomen with ensuring that reforms are carried out at JKIA, including personally overseeing the procurement of a new generator, which would contribute to the improvement of the airport to world-class standards.

"Kipchumba, look for your generator and install it, leave those people alone. Stop attacking leaders anyhow, we found so many spoilt things, which we are trying to fix. They are trying to force that load on us and they bought that fake generator with a lot of money and if it is put on a bit of load, it starts emitting smoke.

"Now Kipchumba must make corrections and install a new generator as well as make changes, and build a new modern airport that will give us respect worldwide," he directed.

Earlier, Murkomen, during an interview with Spice FM, claimed that the political leaders who were slamming him for the JKIA blackouts were doing so from a point of ignorance; failing to first get an understanding of how a power generator works.

“I saw someone say that a generator is something you just plug in and plug out." 

“It is very disheartening to see some people out there behaving like they know which generator we are talking about and they think you just go and switch it, they are just propagating their ignorance.”

He insisted that one needs a high-level electrical engineer who is well-equipped to synchronise electricity connection when there’s a blackout.

Cherargei led calls for President William Ruto to crack the whip on Murkomen and other officials in an ongoing tiff between the duo, laughing off the CS's decision to consult the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over claims of sabotage.

"Murkomen is blaming KAA and saying there's sabotage for DCI to investigate, I don't know what investigation you should do to a generator that was installed and you just press the buttons for switching on and off or just set a timer?" He questioned.

Blackout at JKIA on December 10, 2023. /X