The mystery surrounding the ownership of independent power producers deepened further after Attorney General Justin Muturi said they don’t have agreements between the government and the IPPs.
Muturi testified before the Vincent Musyoka-led energy committee, which is investigating the country’s high energy costs, that the office was kept in the dark about contract signings.
Muturi instead requested that the committee make a recommendation to the Director of Criminal Investigation about determining who owns the companies.
Members were taken aback by the admission, with Nambale MP Geoffrey Mulanya proposing that those who signed the deals take personal responsibility for the billions that could have already been lost.
“I am taken aback by the helplessness that the AG is showing, if we have to cancel the contracts then those who signed must take responsibility.” He said.
Muturi, on the other hand, insisted that as a state law office department, they cannot request contracts from Kenya Power, and instead encouraged parliament to take the initiative in determining who the true owners of the IPPs are.
“We can not ask for the agreements, but as parliament, you must insist on seeing them, and those found to have bound the government in questionable contracts must be held accountable.” Muturi said.
“This is how the Government loses cases, because the people who have information never want to provide it in good time, because they made mistakes, even as they say they negotiate insist on seeing the agreements after every week.” He added.
Muturi was also skeptical of the ongoing contract termination negotiations between Kenya Power and IPPs.
“For the last 20years I have been hearing that settling will be expensive, but we have never been told how much that would be, maybe it would even be cheaper than what we have paid in the last 5 years.” He said.
He requested that the committee be kept informed of the negotiations if the issue was resolved.
The IPPs have been blamed for the country’s high power costs, and previous legislatures’ efforts to address the issue have been futile.
