Kenya Power awards Kitui Sh100m face masks tender

Kenya Power #ticker:KPLC has awarded Kitui County Textile Centre (Kicotec) a Sh100 million tender to supply the utility firm with face masks to protect its staff from Covid-19.

The firm disclosed the award in the May tenders in which the electricity distributor wants Kicotec to supply it with one million units of three-ply surgical face masks at Sh100 each.

The Kenya Power contract boosts the fortunes of Kicotec, which in April said it was making up to 30,000 masks per day.

The textile centre sells the protective gear to county governments, firms, NGOs, private hospitals and parastatals.

The tender now raises Kenya Power’s total spending on the fight against Covid-19 to Sh146.2 million since March 19.

The firm has also spent millions of shillings on hand sanitisers and digital thermometers.

With electricity provision being an essential service, Kenya Power’s engineers, drivers and other staff have to work despite the pandemic, highlighting the costs businesses are shouldering to protect their employees from the disease.

Three of Kenya Power’s staff working from Mombasa branch office tested positive for coronavirus in early June, joining other firms such as Kenya Ports Authority, KCB Group #ticker:KCB, DT Dobie and Safaricom #ticker:SCOM which have also reported cases among some of their employees.

The country’s Covid-19 case load has already crossed the 6,000 mark, with over 200 per day new infections already being registered.

This is in contrast with earlier Ministry of Health projections that such numbers would only be seen in August.