Rotich confirms Sh 21B dam project contrary to Sh 7B by Ruto

The CS Treasury, Henry Rotich confirms that the money used in dam project in Elgeyo-Marakwet is actually sh 21 billion.

The controversial project is now a thing in any public rally with politicians throwing words and blames on each other for the ‘lost’ money.

Deputy President William Ruto last week during the the state of Judiciary confirmed that the money in question from the dam project is sh 7 billion and not Sh 21 billion as earlir claimed.

NASA leader Raila Odinga accused Ruto of ‘playing’ with public money and that even if it was sh 7 billion it was not pocket change to buy ‘Mandazi’.

So who is telling the truth between the CS Treasury and DP Ruto?

Mr. Rotich said that up to Sh19.8 billion had been paid to different firms in the two projects on various dates as at the end of last year, Daily Nation reports. The amount is Sh1.2 billion short of the Sh21 billion the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is pursuing, and Mr. Rotich said the payments were largely fees paid out as part of the conditions to be met before work could begin on the dams.

The Italian firm, CMC di Ravenna, was on December 22, 2017, paid Sh4.3 billion as an advance for the Arror dam, and Sh3.5 billion for Kimwarer on November 6 last year. Both are 15 percent of the contract sum of Sh28.5 billion for Arror, and Sh23.1 billion for Kimwarer.

Another Sh11.2 billion was paid to SACE Insurance Premium, an Italian government agency, to cover 100 per cent of the principal and interests against any potential financial risks to cushion the lenders, according to Mr Rotich.

The two projects also cost a total of Sh546 million as structuring fee, which is money paid to all those who arranged the financing of the loan. A further Sh360 million was paid as commitment fee, which is the money paid to the lender for committing the loan in order to ring-fence the funds, and the government has also paid Sh3.5 million as annual agency fee to the ead agent acting on behalf of the other lenders.

Last week, the DCI I revealed that National Treasury and KVDA officials were under investigation for paying Sh21 billion for dams that only appear in the fertile imagination of corrupt officials.

“When we asked them for the designs of the dams, they said they were still doing them,” DCI head George Kinoti said on Monday, astounded that Sh21 billion had been spent on a project that had not even been designed.