Kenyatta University Students Block Section of Thika Road Demanding Electricity

Transport activities along Thika Road have been disrupted after protests erupted near Kenyatta University in the Kahawa area.

Footage obtained by Kenyans.co.ke shows a heavy traffic jam after students erected boulders and lit fires on the road.

According to the students, the cause of the demonstrations was the lack of electricity for a week at the institution. The students issued an ultimatum to the relevant authorities regarding the restoration of electricity.

“We are here in this place because of the electricity issues. We have stayed in KM place, where most of our comrades reside, for one week without electricity. We are telling the relevant stakeholders to restore the power within the next 30 minutes. Failure to do so will result in us taking action. We will close Thika Road,” noted Glen Karani, the President of KU.

Karani noted that despite reaching out to the relevant authorities, there had been no progress in restoring power to the university.

“We reached out to the regional manager. We wrote a letter requesting that power be restored. Up to now, they have not restored power. What they are doing is taking our transformer to another location, which we are not going to allow,” he stated.

According to the students, the power blackout has caused many challenges, such as insecurity and business losses for businesses operating within the campus. They noted that assurances from local leadership that power would be restored have not been fulfilled.

The students warned of another demonstration over the new university funding model in the coming week as they stressed their needs to be addressed. 

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. The next thing we are going to do, next week, is the new funding model. We are going to block this road (Thika Road) again so that the government can listen to our pleas,” Karani added.

The police had yet to arrive at the scene, with many of those disrupted by the protests complaining about the hold-up, having been stuck in traffic for hours.

The latest protests by KU students come weeks after the Kenya University Students Association (KUSA) threatened to hold nationwide protests across Kenyan universities over the recent spate of abductions and salary delays among lecturers. 

KUSA, under the leadership of Teddy Omin Osano, announced that the protests would begin on January 15, when universities were to re-open.

”Revolution is the voice of the unheard, revolution is the voice of the majority silenced and pressed. We are announcing that immediately the comrades of the universities resume, including the lecturers and staffers, we are going to stage demonstrations in the republic of Kenya,” Osano announced.