Politics of darkness: Why power rationing is back

When a government starts switching off the lights, it is never just about electricity. It is about power. The darkness it imposes often mirrors the political darkness it seeks to hide.

President William Ruto’s latest announcement that his government will begin rationing electricity between 5 pm and 10 pm, the very hours when families, businesses and electoral counts are most active, reveals not an energy crisis but a moral one. This government promised to light every Kenyan home. The administration paraded electricity meters as symbols of progress during the campaign. Ruto’s bottom-up revolution was to illuminate every village. Yet now, it is dimming the very lights it vowed to brighten. The irony is profound. 

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