After Attorney General Justin Muturi stated that there are no agreements between the government and the independent power producers (IPPs), the mystery surrounding their ownership becomes even more opaque.
The office was kept in the dark regarding contract signings, according to Muturi, who testified before the energy committee headed by Vincent Musyoka and looked into the nation's high energy cost.
Instead, Muturi asked the committee to advise the Director of Criminal Investigation on identifying the companies' owners.
The disclosure surprised the members, and Geoffrey Mulanya of Nambale proposed that individuals who signed the deals shoulder personal responsibility for the billions that could have already been lost.
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"I am taken aback by the helplessness that the AG is showing, if we have to cancel the contracts then those who signed must take responsibility." He said.
As a state law office department, Muturi said, they cannot solicit contracts from Kenya Power and instead urged parliament to take the lead in identifying the IPPs' genuine owners.
"We can not ask for the agreements, but as parliament, you must insist on seeing them, and those found to have bound the government in questionable contracts must be held accountable." Muturi said.
"This is how the Government loses cases, because the people who have information never want to provide it in good time, because they made mistakes, even as they say they negotiate insist on seeing the agreements after every week." He added.
The ongoing contract termination discussions between Kenya Power and IPPs were also met with skepticism by Muturi.
"For the last 20years I have been hearing that settling will be expensive, but we have never been told how much that would be, maybe it would even be cheaper than what we have paid in the last 5 years." He spoke.
He asked that the committee be kept informed of the negotiations if the matter was settled.
The country's high electricity prices have been attributed to IPPs, and prior legislatures' attempts to remedy the problem have been fruitless.
