Most of Garissa Town lay in darkness on Sunday following a full-day power shutdown, the familiar sound of the Muslim call to prayer still echoed through the warm evening air.
From Bula Iftin to Bula Mzuri, mosques across the town used solar energy to power loudspeakers, lights, and fans , a striking symbol of resilience in a region increasingly turning to renewable energy.
The power disruption, part of Kenya Power’s scheduled maintenance from 8 am to 5 pm left homes, businesses, and government offices without electricity for much of the day.
Power was only restored to most areas by around 8 p.m. But many mosques remained unaffected, having switched to solar energy systems installed over the past few years.
“We continued with all our prayers as usual,” said Osman Haji Harun of a mosque in Bulla Adan.
“The adhan was made through solar-powered speakers, and our lights stayed on. We didn’t even feel the blackout.”
The people of the Muslim majority municipality l gather for prayer five times a day. Electricity supply is for lighting and more importantly for amplifying the Adhan, the call that signals each prayer time and carries across neighbourhoods.
The uninterrupted calls to prayer on served as both a spiritual and practical reminder of the power of renewable energy.
The outage also sparked debate about Garissa’s place in Kenya’s energy landscape.
The county is home to the Garissa Solar Power Plant, one of the largest grid-connected solar farms in East Africa, with a capacity of 54 megawatts. Yet, despite being a hub for solar generation, the town continues to experience grid interruptions.
“It’s ironic that we live next to one of Africa’s biggest solar plants but still rely on unstable grid electricity,” said Fatuma Dubbow, a local businesswoman.
“This blackout showed us that solar is not just the future — it’s the present.”
Kenya Power said the maintenance exercise was aimed at improving supply reliability in the North Eastern region.