Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah now claims that the government financed businesswoman Ann Njeri Njoroge in the contentious Sh17 billion fuel deal that has been the talk of town for days.
The self spoken Senator stated that he had evidence linking the government through National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u who authorized the withdrawal of Sh17.2 billion from the Consolidated Fund to subsidise a private enterprise which was not indicated in the authorisation sheet.
The private enterprise according to the Busia Senator was Njeri’s company which was funded in June to import the fuel.
“Whereas what was financed by the 50955 19 Clauses (a) and (b) above is not disclosed, there is a direct correlation between the 17,224,718,632 shillings which was unconstitutionally withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund in June 2023 to subsidize unnamed private financial enterprises and the Kshs.17 billion contested oil shipment between Ms Njeri and the two Cabinet Secretaries,” he noted.
The vibrant activist now says the deal between Njeri and Cabinet Secretaries Davis Chirchir (Energy),Kipchumba Murkomen (Transport) on the importation of the 17 billion shillings diesel did not go as planned leading to the ongoing tussle.
He said that the money was irregularly withdrawn from the Ministry of Energy accounts, having been deposited from the Treasury which was in violation of the Public Finance Management Act.
“I challenge CS Chirchir and CS Murkomen to stop fooling the nation and come clean on their relationship with Alice Njeri, whom I reasonably believe is their front in the heist, whom they have fallen out with,” Omtatah stated.
Chirchir insisted that businesswoman Ann Njeri presented forged documents with which she wanted to lay claim to 93,000 metric tonnes of diesel from Saudi Arabia saying the oil consignment belongs to Galana Energies.
In a statement on Wednesday, the CS gave a chronology of events leading to the importation and eventual discharge of the consignment at the Kipevu Oil Storage Facility on November 4 to the time Ann Njeri was abducted.
He dismissed claims by the businesswoman that she is the bona fide importer of the cargo saying her application for an oil importation license was rejected on October 29 by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).
One of the criteria was the ability to prove an annual sales volume in Kenya of 6.6 million liters of premium motor spirit/super petrol, automotive gasoil/diesel, and/or jet A/kerosene.
Another was the proof of operation of five licensed retail stations in the country and the evidence of operation of a licensed depot locally, among others.
“The company claims that a petroleum import license had been issued, paid for and is awaiting signature which is untrue and a complete fabrication,” Chirchir said.
“First, EPRA does not currently charge fees for petroleum licences and secondly, EPRA does not have within its records a petroleum import licence issued to Anns Import and Export Enterprises Limited that is awaiting signature,” he added.
Chirchir added that Ann’s company had not signed the Open Tendering Systems Agreement as required by the law.
Chirchir now claims that the true importer of the oil consignment in question is Aramco Trading Fujairah FZE through Galana Energies Limited, which furnished the Energy Ministry with the required documents for the Open Tendering Systems Agreement.
