Residents of Embu County have a reason to smile after Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and Embu County Government today (March 2) held bilateral talks and agreed to work together.
The talks which took place at the KenGen Head offices led by Embu Governor, H.E Cecily Mbarire, and KenGen's Ag. Managing Director and CEO, Abraham Serem singled out various emergency-related projects and long-term initiatives to be implemented under an agreed partnership arrangement.
Key among the areas of concern discussed by the two parties was climate change, which the two reckoned had greatly affected both the operations of KenGen and the livelihoods of people living around the power installations across the country.
"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 highlighted that as part of the drafting of the Embu County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) the country received views from the public including various recommendations on projects they would like to see implemented in the county.
"Our people appreciate your footprint in Embu County, CSR, and the various Community Projects you have implemented over the years," said Governor Mbarire adding, "the situation on the ground now is dire because of the prolonged drought and that is why we are here to request you to do more to alleviate suffering and implement long-term projects that will uplift the living standards of our people."
The Governor singled out water and electricity connections as top priorities in the county which she requested KenGen to convene a multidisciplinary committee to help address over the next three months.
For his part, Mr. 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 Mr. Serem.
The NSE-listed company 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 had been the mainstay of power generation in Kenya for a long time having been the first big power stations 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 becomes 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 Mr. Serem.
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Email: fochieng@kengen.co.ke or media@kengen.co.ke
