KEY POINTS
- EACC arrested Kenya Power technician Gerald Nyaoke and an accomplice on May 28, 2026.
- The suspect demanded Ksh30,000 to restore electricity disconnected from a residential property in Donholm.
- EACC detectives mounted a sting operation that captured the alleged bribe exchange on record.
Kenya’s anti-corruption agency has arrested a Kenya Power technician and his accomplice after the suspect allegedly demanded Ksh30,000 from a homeowner to restore electricity that had been cut off two days earlier.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission confirmed the arrest on Thursday, May 29, 2026. The suspect, Gerald Nyaoke, is a technician attached to the Kenya Power Donholm Office in Nairobi. His electricity had been disconnected on May 26. When the homeowner approached the utility for help, Nyaoke allegedly made a demand: pay Ksh30,000 or stay in the dark.
The homeowner instead went to the EACC on May 28.
That decision triggered a rapid response. EACC detectives mounted a sting operation, monitoring and documenting every interaction between the homeowner and the two suspects as the alleged bribe was negotiated and exchanged. The suspects were arrested at the point of exchange and escorted to the Integrity Centre for processing.
A pattern EACC is moving to break
The Donholm arrest is the second Kenya Power corruption case the EACC has moved on in quick succession. Just weeks earlier, Kennedy Wambani Oduor, a technician attached to the Mbale-Vihiga office, was charged with soliciting a Ksh20,000 bribe from a church organization over a damaged electricity pole near its premises. That case stretched back to 2022 and was only resolved after months of investigation by the commission.
The EACC said in a statement it remains committed to fighting corruption and urged members of the public to keep reporting bribery and abuse of office directly to the commission.
What Kenya Power’s corruption problem costs customers
The pattern emerging from these cases is consistent. A customer faces a disconnection, real or manufactured. A technician offers to resolve it in exchange for cash. The customer pays or reports. In too many cases, they simply pay.
EACC’s willingness to act on complaints quickly, as it did in the Donholm case where it mounted an operation within hours of receiving a complaint, is designed to change that calculation. Whether it does depends on how many customers know they have the option to report and whether the culture inside Kenya Power shifts alongside the arrests.
