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CS Munyes says no money lost in KPC oil jetty deal

MUNYES

Petroleum Cabinet secretary John Munyes. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Ministry of Petroleum has said no money was lost in the construction of the Sh1.9 billion Kisumu Oil Jetty— a day after top managers at the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) were charged for procurement irregularities.

Petroleum Cabinet secretary John Munyes told Parliament that construction of the oil jetty was in fulfillment of a presidential directive following a request from the East African Community Heads of State Summit.

Joe Sang, the outgoing managing director of KPC and five of his colleagues were Monday charged with abuse of office in connection with the loss of funds in the construction of the fuel jetty worth Sh1.96 billion, a figure the prosecution said exceeded the original budget.

But Mr Munyes said there was no variation in the contract sum and that the budget for construction of the oil jetty was approved by the KPC board, his ministry and that of Finance.

Mr Munyes said the tender was awarded to the lowest evaluated bidder who quoted Sh1.7 billion up from the KPC’s engineer estimates of Sh1.4 billion.

Mr Munyes said when Value Added Tax (VAT) of Sh500 million was factored in, the contract price for the construction of the jetty hit Sh1.9 billion.

“The contract was delivered on time and on budget. There was no variation in the project,” Mr Munyes told the Senate committee on Energy.

Mr Munyes made the disclosure a day after Mr Sang and other officials were charged with loss of funds.

Mr Sang, alongside Gloria Khafafa (company secretary), Vincent Korir Cheruiyot (general manager supply, chain), Billy Aseka (general manager, infrastructure) and Nicholas Gitobu (procurement manager) denied multiple charges relating to the construction of the oil jetty, which cost the taxpayer Sh1.9 billion.

Mr Sang denied two counts of abuse of office and failure to comply with procurement procedures. He also denied accusation of irregularly conferring a benefit when he awarded a Sh1,963,065,422 contract for construction of Kisumu oil jetty to Southern Engineering Company.

Mr Munyes, who was accompanied by Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau said they were not aware of the outcome of investigations that saw Mr Sang and his team arraigned in court. “As far as I am concerned, there was a tender that returned a bid of Sh1.7 billion and which was approved by the tender committee.

“It went to Sh1.9 billion after the VAT was factored in and this was approved by the KPC board. There was no variation in this project because they had planned total sum of Sh1.9 billion and the project was done in two financial years,” he told the committee chaired by Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina.

Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot sought to know why Mr Sang was charged when the tender committee, the KPC board, the petroleum Ministry and the Treasury approved the oil jetty project.

Mr Kamau said Sh1.4 billion was approved but that the KPC requested more funding in the subsequent financial year through a supplementary budget. “We engaged a consultant to do design and give cost estimates which he gave as Sh1.4 billion to Sh1.5 billion. In 2016/17 a budget of Sh1.487 billion was approved and we went to tender. When it was opened, the contractors gave Sh1.7 billion as the lowest bid. In 2017/18, we budgeted the balance of Sh500 million being VAT,” an engineer, Mr Joseph Kones, who is in charge of KPC projects said.