Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa grilled over Ksh.18 billion KETRACO scandal

Kakamega County Governor Fernandes Barasa has been grilled by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over the role he played in Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) which led to the loss of Ksh.18 billion in penalties over the construction of a power line in Turkana.

The investigation is in line with the recommendations of the public investment committee that wants those involved in the deals held accountable for the losses. 

Barasa spent the better part of Monday at Integrity House where he was questioned by EACC detectives who sought to understand what role KETRACO played in that contract that ended up consuming billions of taxpayers money in  a project that had been intended to increase Kenya's power supply and lower energy costs. 

The Lake Turkana wind power project, the largest wind farm in Africa, was meant to have added a new 400kv power substation near Loyangalani, while KETRACO was meant to have constructed the transmission interconnector to evacuate the power from the plant to the national grid.

The process of issuing the tender for that bid and the subsequent implementation of that contract is what now has the newly minted Kakamega Governor before the EACC investigators.

A public investment committee report of June this year recommended that the anti-graft body investigates KETRACO's management on a number of issues relating to that contract, including how the government entity managed the contract of the construction of the transmission interconnector.

It also wants KETRACO probed for failing to secure way leaves and signing addenda to that contract that led to delay in the completion of the line and exposed Kenyan taxpayers to Deemed Generated Energy amounting to Ksh.18.49 billion and higher energy bills.

The report also shows that KETRACO contracted a Spanish company Isolux to undertake the construction of the line in 24 months, with stiff penalties for failure to deliver within the set timelines. The company however ran into challenges, resulting in the three extensions and the eventual termination of the contract after Isolux declared bankruptcy. 

Ketraco eventually contracted Nari Group Cooperation and PowerChina Engineering to complete the project. But that delay of 32 months came at a heavy cost to the taxpayer.

Aside from KETRACO's management, the public investment committee wants the accounting officers at the Ministry of Energy to be held accountable for not conducting an independent legal risk assessment prior to the execution of the contracts for a capital-intensive project such as the one in contention. 

Former Energy Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge, who served as PS in the docket, has already been grilled.