Will the puzzle surrounding over 21 million liters of fuel lost at the Kenya Pipeline Company finally be solved? Kenyans have continued to wonder how such a large amount of fuel would just disappear overnight without officials from Kenya Pipeline being aware.
Kenya Pipeline board has now moved and invited Crime investigating agencies to help it get to the bottom of the matter. This comes even as KPC’s managing director quit his position as MD.
KPC wants the Director of Criminal Investigations’ office to investigate disappearance of more than 21 million litres of fuel, which KPC claimed to have either spilt or was stolen by vandals.
Mr Sang, whose first term was to end in April next year handed his letter to the board on Tuesday morning.
Oil marketers will however have to wait much longer to know how their 23 million litres went missing after Kenya Pipeline Company board failed to marshal a quorum to discuss the matter last week.
The special board meeting, called by KPC chairman John Ngumi, and which was to discuss the fuel loss scam, flopped after three members gave it a wide berth, albeit with reasons. The three were lawyer Jinaro Kibet, the Treasury representative Eric Korir and businesswoman Felicity Biriri.
There was speculation that the meeting would have put the KPC management under Joe Sang on the carpet to explain how fuel worth Sh2.3 billion disappeared under their watch and the way forward after oil marketers demanded to carry out a thorough forensic audit of the product loss within KPC.
Credible sources say there would have been a major confrontation between the management and the board over the missing 23 million litres.
Mr Sang has officially explained that 4.4 million litres were “stolen” in Koru last year after vandals drilled the pipeline and diverted fuel to a nearby petrol station. This, according to KPC, went undetected for four months.
While Mr Sang has also explained that 1.2 million litres spilt within Ngong Forest between April and May this year, the minister for Environment, Mr Keriako Tobiko, has said there was no such spill.
The balance of 4.8 million litres is alleged to have spilt inside Lisa Ranch, owned by Prof Philip Mbithi, a former Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet. A spot-check by the Nation found no evidence of a major spill.
More so, a KPC board finance committee paper, which was set to be discussed, indicates that the total loss from spillages and the gain/loss stands at 23 million litres as of September 30.
While the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have not gone public on their stand, sources say that the working relationship with KPC hit rock bottom during a meeting at Serena Hotel on August 23, when they rejected KPC’s bid to pass the losses to the customers. This was captured in Minute 4 of the meeting which indicates that “there was no consensus” between OMC’s and KPC on the losses.
The Energy Regulatory Commission, which would have covered up the losses by increasing fuel prices, seems to have abandoned the KPC management. In a letter dated October 24 to Mr Sang, ERC Director-General Robert Oimeke tells KPC to “liaise with OMCs for a forensic audit of the product loss.”
Will Sang’s resignation help solve the mystery at KPC or is it a case of too little too late?