Investigations into the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) took an interesting twist after the Business Registration Services (BRS) revealed that the government agency did not know the owners and shareholders of the companies that have contributed to the high power costs.
The IPPs have been accused of selling electricity to the distributor at an inflated price which is passed to consumers, leading to high power costs.
While appearing before Energy Committee on August 10, BRS Director General Kenneth Gathuma, indicated that he could not authoritatively ascertain the shareholders of the companies despite being the body mandated to maintain information about companies operating in the country.
In other instances, the identification numbers of Kenyan shareholders were also not included in the documents.
Shares also owned by Kenyan investors were also not indicated in the documents.
Gathuma's revelation shocked the MPs who wondered how the government would fail to know the actual owners of the companies posing a significant security threat in the country.
"Your information is not beneficial to this Committee. A lot of information is not captured in your documents. How do you run an organization registering companies and you don't carry out due diligence of companies? Don't you think you can register terrorists," the committee's chair Vincent Musyoka wondered.
Pressed over the lapse at the organisation, Gathuma requested to be given seven more days to be able to go through their documents and submit all names of the owners to the committee.
However, the BRS official also requested the MPs to also query the office of the Attorney General to assist in seeking information on foreign shareholders as they were mandated to register the companies.
He maintained that the agency only maintained the records of the companies after their registration.
MPs further indicated that they would seek to have officials from the AG's office summoned even if they take more measures in ascertaining the real owners of the companies where some politicians are reported to have shared.
The Committee also divulged that they would involve Interpol if they needed to have the foreigners brought to Kenya for questioning.
