Kenya stares at another mega dam scandal of Sh 25B

Even as damning audit queries continue to dog the government over previous use of money for the dams’ projects, Sh25 billion more has been allocated for the financial year starting this July.

Alarm has however been raised that this amount will be looted once again as the wounds of Arror and Kimwarer continue to pain Kenyans.

According to reports, the expenditure plan for fiscal year 2019-20 tabled before the National Assembly end of April shows dams will account for more than a third of the Sh72.3 billion earmarked for projects in the broader sector of agriculture and food security, water and irrigation.

Construction of dams first came under sharp public scrutiny in February after the DCI launched a probe into circumstances under which Sh21 billion was paid to an insolvent Italian company, CMC di Ravena, for construction of the Kimwarer and Arror dams in Elgeyo Marakwet.

The legislators asked the investigative agencies – DCI and the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) – to focus on projects financed under the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing (EPCF) model.

β€œAll the programmes stand suspended until the people are compensated. The government needs to be serious and do first things first… that is, acquiring land and compensating the owners,” committee chairman Kareke Mbiuki had said.

This comes a few days after another Sh 19 billion scandal.

Reports indicate that a Chinese firm awarded a Sh19 billion tender to construct Lowaat Dam in Turkana County had been blacklisted by six multilateral development banks (MDBs) at the time the National Irrigation Board (NIB) invited bids for the project.

The unusual award of the tender, which was characterised by legal drama between 2016 and 2018, is set to further lift the lid on the dirty world of big projects, which often leave the taxpayer poorer.

The tender also turns the spotlight onto how Chinese companies are elbowing their way into lucrative contracts in Africa by hook and crook.

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