By STAR REPORTER
He has ruthlessly removed parastatal chiefs, ordered immediate electric hookups of 800 primary schools by tomorrow and demanded fast cleanup of the 18-month-old oil Makueni oil spill.
It will no longer be business as usual under the watch of the new minister who took office in December but had been acting chief since March when his predecessor was suspended.
In the last few days, he has approved requests from two parastatal boards to sack one CEO and suspend another.
The first casualty was Flora Okoth, acting MD of Kenya Pipeline. She was replaced a few days ago by Joel Sang, KPC General Manager.
On Wednesday the National Oil Corporation board sent home CEO Sumayya Hassan-Athmani.
Summayya is the only woman from Kilifi in charge of a parastatal.
"This is politics at play and is totally unacceptable," Suna East MP Junet Mohammed said yesterday.
Sources in the Energy ministry told the Star Athmani had not met expectations.
Keter has also told Kenya Power to connect 800 public primary schools by tomorrow, or else.
He wants to fulfil the Jubilee promise of connecting all primary schools without delay, but it's going to be difficult.
On Wednesday Keter ordered the Kenya Pipeline Company and Nema to clean up the Thange River oil spill in Makueni county fast — he demanded a progress report in two weeks. It occurred 18 months ago, polluted the river and land, destroyed crops and property and has threatened health.
He promised victims they would be compensated.
More energy — accessible and affordable — is a pillar of Vision 2030.
In September 2013 the ministry launched the road map for the 5000+ MW program to transform Kenya.
In addition to scaling up power generation, it aims to reduce the cost of power by more than 40 for industrial and domestic customers, translating to increased competitiveness.
Keter is pushing the Energy Regulatory Commission to reduce oil marketers’ margins included in pricing formulas and to cut fuel prices.
Apart from Kenya Power and Lighting Company and Kenya Pipeline, the other parastatals under Keter are the regulatory commission, the Rural Electrification Authority, Geothermal Development Company, Kenya Petroleum Refineries and Kenya Electricity Generating Company.
Others are Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, Kenya Nuclear Electricity and Renewable Energy Portal.
This week REA chairman Simon Gicharu told all contractors to complete work on schedule.
Speaking to the Star on Thursday, Gicharu said REA has paid more than Sh29 billion to contractors to connect public primary schools and government institutions to electricity.
"We will not seek an extension but will ensure all remaining schools are connected," he said.
It's going to be tough because a few days ago 400 schools were yet to be connected, 300 were partially done and in 100 schools no work had started, Gicharu said. Though power lines have been constructed, Kenya Power is yet to instal meters in some schools.
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