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To say that the energy sector in Kenya is going through a tumultuous period would be a euphemism.
The sector, which is supplying the country with electricity-intensive industries that run the economy up to the users of koroboi lamps, has fallen into what could be its worst mess.
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The nascent upstream oil industry has not been spared where the government has not been able to transport crude oil from Turkana to Mombasa after the colorful presidential flag and hype of June 3 negligence.
The high cost that Kenyans will have to bear not only now but in the coming years is also underestimated. This is already evident in their monthly electricity bills and at the pump.
The cost of manufactured goods is also expected to increase as industries face the high cost of electricity and petroleum products.
Kenya and the people of Turkana will also have to derive less profit from the sale of crude oil in the future as Lokichar's partners deduct what was paid for unused equipment and staff after stalemate with the community. ] Know if the news is factual and true. Text & # 39; NEWS & # 39; at 22840 and still receive verified updates.
The highlight of the moment is Kenya Power, which was left without its C-suite after nearly all of its top executives were arrested and charged in court for the economic crimes and abuse of the office.
At the center of charges is the purchase of defective transformers and a failed supply process for the hiring of contractors who badist Kenya Power's technical department in understaffing for emergency repairs and construction work, called labor and transportation contracts. .
The electricity company may have lost billions in transactions, the defective transformers costing it 4.5 billion shillings, while the Director of Public Prosecutions has accused the contractors of & T have been irregularly paid.
The companies were engaged to undertake emergency repairs and construction of electrical infrastructure over a period of two years for an amount of 255 million shillings. Of this amount, 160 million shillings were paid and the remaining amount is 95 million shillings.
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The firm is also fighting against a bill on inflated energy bills towards the end of last year, which would have been an attempt to recover 10 billion shillings not collected. Lawyer Apollo Mboya has filed the pro bono case in which he accuses Kenya Power of abusing its monopoly and harming consumer rights by inflating bills.
Earlier in the week, Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter Energy attempted to defend the management of Kenya Power, but received a violent reaction with politicians asking him to resign.
Kenya Power is not the only company under the role of Keter who is under siege for failed operations that have resulted in the loss of taxpayer funds and rising electricity bills.
The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) saw the government pay penalties of 5 billion shillings to Lake Turkana wind energy investors (LTWP) for failing to set up a line Electric in December 2016.
Ketraco hired a Spanish company – Isolux Corsan – to install the power line to evacuate electricity from the Marsabit wind farm to the Suswa grid.
Sh1 Billion Penalty
The company, which subsequently filed for bankruptcy, failed to meet Kenya's deadline for monthly penalties for failing to set up the line agreed with the LTWP to allow it to monetize its costs. investments in the 310 megawatt wind facility. 19659002]
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The 5.7 billion shillings was a negotiated penalty, with the promise of putting the line in place in August of this year. The line has since been given to new Chinese entrepreneurs who should complete it in time, but failing to do so will expose taxpayers to another penalty of 1 billion shillings a month at the LTWP.
The penalty already paid will be recovered from consumers through monthly invoices as soon as the wind farm starts supplying the grid.
Senior Secretary of Energy, Joseph Njoroge, recently said that the construction of the line was almost complete. "The line must be completed in August this year," Njoroge said at a recent meeting before the National Assembly Energy Committee.
Apart from electricity, the oil industry, which comes under the Ministry of Oil and Mines, had its fair share of the race difficult.
The Kenya Pipeline Company has also benefited from a negative star in recent weeks. The parastatal fought the allegations that she lost 95 billion shillings through the uncontrolled auctioning of tender calls, claiming that she denied and said that she was not in a position to sell the goods. they all agreed.
The allegations, however, are based on investigations by officials of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Criminal Investigations Branch (DCI), who searched the homes of past and present officials CPK.
Among the projects investigated by the investigating agencies are the supply of hydrant valves used in refueling aircraft at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and the Mombasa pipeline. Nairobi which has just ended. The supply of hydrant faucets would have been single-source.
The completion of the Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline was delayed more than a year and a half, Zakhem International contractor from Lebanon demanding 18 billion shillings for the extension period .
KPC General Manager Joe Sang, however, stated that the claim had fallen to 4 billion shillings after an arbitration process.
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The Ministry of Petroleum also implemented a plan to distribute subsidized kitchen gas cylinders to poor households. The Mwananchi gas project, which was to distribute bottles to more than one million homes in the last financial year, has not yet started, a pilot project in Kajiado and Machakos distributing only 6,000 bottles.
Kenya's National Oil Corporation (NOCK) – the implementing agency – recently said that it had stopped because the pilot revealed the lack of mechanisms for prevent cheating during implementation.
Cooking gas
Households that met the low-income criteria were awarded the six-kilogram bottles that were sold at a reduced rate of 2,000 shillings, against the market of 4,000 shillings. Poor households also took advantage of the wrong mechanisms to protect abuses and gained more than once the cylinder. The project aims to distribute 4.3 million bottles over three years.
Chief Oil Secretary Andrew Kamau said the ministry and NOCK and other actors involved in the program sealed the loopholes and were preparing to restart the program.
"NOCK and other stakeholders are coming to a conclusion about this and others, everything will be settled in the coming months and we will be ready to deploy," he said last week.
Although LPG cooking may seem like a luxury, it costs more and more than dirty fuels such as charcoal and firewood for many urban and rural households.
Had the project been implemented within the prescribed timeframe, it would have mitigated the high costs of kerosene and charcoal, whose prices have increased significantly due to various factors, including the high cost of crude oil and additional taxes. to combat adulteration of gasoline and diesel.
The cost of a four-kilogram box of fuel had reached Sh138 in June of this year from Sh81 in May of last year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of Kenya ( KNBS).
Early Pilot Oil Program
The turmoil in the area has also spread to the upstream. The fledgling industry, whose only visible project for the Kenyan public at large was Tullow Oil's Lokichar project, has been grappling with archaic legal work whose scrutiny has stalled in Parliament. There is also an apparent lack of speaking with communities, which has resulted in the disruption of work in Lokichar.
The Early Oil pilot project, the first phase of which began with the transport of crude oil at Tullow Oil's facility in Turkana on June 3, was halted when local communities and leaders started to protest, claiming that the state had renounced promises among them to strengthen security. Tullow Oil announced on Tuesday that it would close its camp at Kapese in two weeks if the stalemate was not resolved.
The firm said it lost up to 200 million shillings last week to keep the camp activities, which are minimal, and pay for unused rented equipment on site because of the confrontation with the community.
Tullow will badume the costs in the short term, but will recover these and other costs once commercial production commences in 2022, which will affect profits, some of which would have been paid to the government. as well as to people and Turkana County.
The company said that the Ministry of Oil delayed the signing of an agreement with the community, which would have paved the way for the resumption of activities in the camp. The ministry was silent on the agreement or the attempts implemented to resolve the stalemate.
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