Kenya Power loses Sh50bn a year to graft, says PS

The scandal-ridden Kenya Power loses over Sh50 billion a year in system leakages, the Nation has learnt.

Energy Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalang’wa told MPs yesterday the sole power distributor has accumulated more than Sh9 billion in bad debts.

While appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly yesterday, the PS pledged to institute changes that will see heads rolling to ensure efficiency.

The government is set to implement a report of a task force that had been appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta to review the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the independent producers (IPPs).

The report recommended a review of the existing PPAs although the Attorney-General has advised against implementing the recommendations of the task force as it will be an illegality.

Mr Kihalang’wa said commercial losses at the utility firm involve the biggest companies that consume huge volumes of power but fail to pay because of collusion with Kenya Power employees to falsify metre readings.

They also involve the big companies behind the ownership of the IPPs that supply power at a higher rate. The same power is then loaded over to Kenyans at exorbitant prices.

“If you ask the Kenya Power people whether there is a problem at the facility, they will say there is none. I was taken to this ministry to make a difference. At my age, I have no vested interests. There has to be change,” Mr Kihalang’wa said.

The PS said two IPPs have already approached the ministry to review their PPAs with Kenya Power.

“Their readiness to have their PPAs renegotiated could be an indication of a realisation that they may have been involved in some crime,” the PS, who claimed some staff work for three instead of eight hours a day.

“We’ll make them accountable for the mess. The heads must start rolling,” he added.

His comments were triggered by Gatanga MP Joseph Ngugi, who had sought to know when the ministry would reform the power distributor.

“When do we expect to see reforms at Kenya Power? When do we expect to see the high cost of power go down,” he posed.

PAC chairman Opiyo Wandayi lamented that the presidential task force’s report was not shared with MPs.

“It appears that there is much more than meets the eye. We have been requesting for the report of the task force to be made available to Parliament but nothing has happened so far,” he said.

The task force was formed in April after Garissa Township MP Aden Duale raised the matter in the National Assembly.

Mr Duale wanted the owners of the IPPs and their contractual agreements with Kenya Power to be revealed.

“We are here yet the report of the task force that was handed over to the President in broad daylight is yet to be made public. There is huge theft at Kenya Power that must be dealt with,” he said.

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