EFFICIENT VS INEFFICIENT CORRUPTION; A TALE OF TWO UTILITIES

Written by Ezekiel Olande on Tuesday, 13 May 2025.

Let’s talk about corruption—not from a moral high ground (we’ve done that)—but from a lens of operational performance. Because in Kenya, not all corruption is created equal. Some of it is disturbingly… efficient.

For today’s case study, we turn to two public utilities legally mandated to provide essential services: Kenya Power and Nairobi Water. Both are infamous for corruption—cited by the Auditor General, Transparency International, investigative journalists, and any Kenyan who has ever had a bill or water shortage that didn’t add up. But how they practice corruption is where the real contrast lies.

Kenya Power: The Gold Standard in Value-Chain Corruption

Kenya Power has engineered a model of corruption that is almost systemic in its inclusivity. Here’s how it works:

• They sign overpriced contracts for thermal energy—mostly diesel-powered—sourced from well-connected suppliers.
• This drives up the cost per kilowatt hour, placing Kenya among the most expensive electricity markets on the continent.
• Downstream, they facilitate illegal connections, sell tokens through backdoor networks, and allow informal settlements to access power—at a cost, of course.

Everyone eats—from procurement officers to fuel suppliers to the average Nairobian who manages to “tap” power illegally.

But here’s the irony: despite the institutional rot, Kenya Power is pushing a clean energy agenda. They’re:

• Installing electric vehicle (EV) charging points across the country;
• Promoting a green transition narrative in policy forums;
• Rolling out new smart meters and grid digitization.

Yet… the supply is erratic at best. Power outages are frequent, transformers blow up like it’s a national sport, and rural electrification remains patchy. So, you have to ask: how will all these EV charging stations work when we can’t even keep the lights on?

Then there’s the obsession with grid-connected streetlights, even in rural areas where solar would be more cost-effective, sustainable, and tamper-proof. Instead of decentralizing infrastructure, Kenya Power reinforces dependence on a central, corruptible system.

But at least, in all its dysfunction, the system functions. Sort of.

Nairobi Water: Corruption Without Efficiency

Now enter Nairobi Water (and by extension, the Ministry of Water). Their version of corruption lacks even the pretense of system-wide benefit.

• They create illegal connections, yes—but only sell water to selected vendors.
• These vendors, often part of entrenched cartels, then sell water to the public at exorbitant prices.
• They intentionally ration supply—even during rainy seasons—to manufacture scarcity.
• And most absurdly, they operate branded water bowsers, selling you back the water they failed to deliver via the pipes.

Unlike Kenya Power, where corruption at least lubricates the system, Nairobi Water’s corruption strangles it. There is no “trickle-down” effect. No end-user benefit. Just a closed loop of scarcity, exploitation, and bureaucratic silence.

A Modest Proposal: Benchmark Corruption

If we’re honest, corruption in Kenya has become an unfortunate structural feature of governance. But even so, not all failure is equal. At least Kenya Power allows the ecosystem to “eat”—the diesel suppliers, the engineers, the slum dweller with an illegal connection. A warped form of redistribution, if you will.

Nairobi Water? They’ve turned a basic human right into a luxury. Their model is exclusionary, inefficient, and outright hostile to the people it’s meant to serve.

So here’s my unsolicited advice to Nairobi Water: Book a benchmarking tour to Kenya Power. If you’re going to entrench dysfunction, at least do it in a way that lets the public feel included. If we must suffer, let it be with a little dignity—and a flicker of power.

Ezekiel Olande is the host of Money Mondays on Icon Radio

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