This archive report was first published on 19 August 2021.
On July 3, 2015, Kenya Power personnel were seen working in Tetu, Nyeri. Nine years earlier, a fire broke out in Lawina Company Limited's pasture, consuming 86 acres of Rhodes grass.
According to a judgment delivered by Judge Roseline Lagat-Korir in Nakuru, the fire was caused by a high-voltage power supply cable owned by Kenya Power. The cable fell and started a fire, destroying fencing posts, droppers, chain links, and barbed wire, causing damages amounting to Sh21.2 million.
Lawina Company Limited had sued Kenya Power, claiming that the company's negligence in handling the electricity transmission cables resulted in damage to their property. The company argued that the destroyed pasture could have been harvested for three years between 2012 and 2014.
Kenya Power, however, denied all the allegations, stating that it had no statutory duty to make compensation to Lawina for loss or damage of any electric supply line or by reason of any defect in the transmission line.
However, in the judgment, Justice Korir found that the fire that occurred in February 2012 was caused by KPLC's pole and 11kv overhead conductors, which fell. 'This caused sparks on the dry pasture, leading to the fire outbreak,' reads the judgment.
Kenya Power has been ordered to pay Lawina Company Limited Sh13.5 million as compensation for loss of pasture in the fire outbreak.
