Masalani Town, the headquarters of Ijara Sub County continues to experience persistence power outages after electricity supply went off again in what has lately become a common occurrence.

Distraught residents had to spend the last 24 hours in darkness as the business community especially those stocking perishable goods like meat and vegetables started counting losses.

According to chairman of Masalani watchdog group, Abdullahi Abdi and former Ijara county council chairman Mohamed Gure the town went dark after a brief drizzle creating confusion, even as candidates sitting for national examination were expected to use the power to make last minute revision

Gure expressed fears that the trend could affect the performance of the candidates as they were  forced to spend the night in total darkness.

However, Abdi said some grade 6 and 9 candidates opted to use kerosene lamps and candles to revise after it emerged that restoration of the power supply was not forthcoming.

Local leadership are now appealing to the  Kenya Power Company (KPC) to open a substation at Masalani town instead of relying on the Hola substation in the neighbouring Tana River County to facilitate provision of a more reliable local electricity supply.

Contacted, the  Engineer In-Charge of Hola substation Hezron Joseph told the Kenya News Agency (KNA) that a team had been dispatched to check on two transformers, suspected to have developed faults.

He confirmed that the rains might have caused the disruption on the transformers at Arisheley, opposite KWS camp and Masalani water supply station, adding that  poor road network hindered quick response to the crisis.

Meanwhile, a spot-check by KNA revealed total paralysis in businesses like garages, welding workshops, eateries, barber shops and milk vendor outlets, while the Masalani water supply station  could not supply water to the residents due to the raging power outage.

The residents have now appealed to Garissa County Governor Nathif Jama senator Abdul Mohamed haji to push for the establishment of a substation in the area to cure the perennial power outage.

By Mohamed Dahir