A group of top government bureaucrats who served in former President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration in the energy sector could be in trouble with anti-graft detectives.
The Star has established the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has opened investigations into a controversial power deal that saw taxpayers lose Sh18 billion.
The money was paid to a private investor due to delays in connecting the Lake Turkana Wind Power to the national grid.
A parliamentary report has concluded the wind farm project — the largest in Africa — was poorly managed and that blunders by government entities cost the taxpayer.
The Star has established top officials who were in office during project implementation have already been summoned for questioning by the EACC.
Negotiations for financing the wind power project situated in Loiyangalani, Marsabit county, started during the Grand Coalition of former President Mwai Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
However, it was executed during President Kenyatta's 10-year tenure from 2013 to 2022.
Officials summoned by EACC include Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa, the immediate former chief executive officer of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco).
Former Energy PS Joseph Njoroge who served as PS in the docket for nine years during Uhuru's tenure was grilled on Tuesday.
He was moved to the Ministry of Transport in September 2021 where he remains PS to date.
Njoroge was interviewed by investigators at his Transcom House offices even as journalists waited, without success, at Integrity Centre.
“The Commission is investigating allegations of corruption and irregular procurement touching on the transmission inter-connector line from Loiyangalani to Suswa. To facilitate this investigations, kindly appear before our officers at Integrity Centre,” the EACC letter to Njoroge dated October 26 read.
“This will be about the role you played in the Lake Turkana Wind Power and Transmission Interconnector projects,” the letter added.
Barasa was to be grilled on Wednesday. However, he requested to appear on November 7 following the death of his mother.
Apart from the two, several other top officials are also lined up for interrogation.
They include a former energy PS, a former Ketraco CEO and a former director general at the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The entire Ketraco board and the board of management at Kenya Power will also appear.
On Tuesday, the Star tried reaching Njoroge for a comment but he did not respond to calls, text messages or on WhatsApp.
Barasa promised to return the Star's call, but had not done so by the time we went to press.
Kakamega county communications officers said they would get in contact with the governor for a response.
Just two months to the August 9 polls, the National Assembly's Public Investments Committee authored an explosive report and saying then Energy PS and Ketraco CEO should be held accountable.
“The then accounting officers at the Ministry of Energy and Ketraco should be held accountable for not conducting an independent legal risk assessment prior to execution of contracts for a capital project of this magnitude,” the PIC chaired by then Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir recommended.
The committee asked the EACC to investigate the contract disorder.
The government was slapped with the Sh18 billion bill following a 318-day delay in completion of the 428km high-voltage power line from Marsabit to Suswa substation in Narok.
Lake Turkana Wind Power Plant Company commissioned the power plant on January 27, 2017, but the government was unable to complete building the transmission interconnector until September 24, 2019.
However, the power purchase agreement the government had signed with the power firm allowed them to charge for any delays known in energy parlance as “deemed generated energy costs”.
“The omissions and commissions by the relevant government entities involved in the project led to to incurred additional cost in the form of deemed generated energy totalling to Sh18,499,082,672 paid by the government and taxpayers,” the PIC report stated.
Sources said detectives would be asking how government officials appended their signature on a contract that favours the contractor and put taxpayers' money at risk.
“The EACC should investigate the Ketraco management on the contract management and implementation for the transmission interconnector, including the failure to secure wayleaves,” PIC had noted.
The committee also said the mega plant is on disputed land, which is the subject of a court battle between Marsabit residents and the Lake Turkana Wind Power Plant Company.
Additional reporting by Luke Awich and Victor Amadala
(Edited by V. Graham)