Residents of Msaponi court in Komarock estate of Nairobi County opted take matters to their hands to unblock clogged power lines after experiencing unending outages.
Residents who endured numerous power outages caused by dumping of garbage at a power turret have breathed a sigh of relief after they mobilized affected households to excavate soil that has been blocking the KPLC personnel from maintaining the power lines.
As a result of the frequent outage the residents have been going without power for more days in a month, thus causing them to throw away refrigerated food as they remained in darkness for as long as 3 weeks in a month.
Affected households last Saturday mobilized residents to excavate lumps of soil and garbage that had blocked the power turret supplying power to about 25 houses.
The residents who have suffered for the past 3 years further raised funds which they paid towing services of a wreckage of a Toyota land cruiser abandoned next to the turret that had been turned into a dustbin for some residents who refused to pay for garbage collection services. Each family was called upon to pay 200 to the treasurer.
Following numerous meetings chaired by the chairman of the court Reverend David Malaba, the affected residents decided that the wreckage be towed and placed outside the house of the owner of the junk which is no longer in use so that he could decide on what to do with it.
According to Rev.Malaba, the affected residents observed that the area where the KPLC turret box was situated had been turned into a dumpsite for organic waste which paused a challenge to the KPLC technical team whenever they were called to fix any fault or carry out necessary repairs.
To address the problem permanently, it was decided that residents of houses no 174-200 gather on Saturday 27th to excavate the soil and garbage while armed with jembes, sururu and spades that they used for the job.
After identifying the problem causing the outage, the committee nominated three members to ensure that they was no more dumping by the residents as they prepared to embark on the excavation.
The residents have agreed to continue with the exercise until when the area is flattened and they will resume the exercise on Monday.
Following the ongoing excavation, residents of the neighboring court have expressed a need to also contribute money and excavate the heaps of soil left behind by house owners who have been abandoning building materials in the playground for the children after they completed erecting extensions in the estate.
By Lydia Shiloya
