Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has poked holes in government to government deal President William Ruto's administration entered with Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) companies.
In a letter dated October 5 and addressed to Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u and his Energy counterpart Davis Chirchir, the lawmaker argued that the deal was shrouded in mystery describing the deal as opaque.
He further blamed the two CSs for failing to shed light on the contents of the deal which he described as a matter of national importance and great public interest.
"I am aware that, prior to these so-called agreements on the importation of petroleum products under the Government-to-Government arrangement, multinational oil marketers operating in Kenya would compete in an Open Tender System operated by EPRA whereby the tender winner would import petroleum products for all the oil marketers," he argued.
"The Open Tender System was transparent with few complaints and it allowed Kenyan consumers to benefit from the dividends of free, fair and open competition. Prices of petroleum products were fixed on the open market and were reasonably stable. But now, with these opaque agreements, under the government-to-government arrangement, the prices have gone through the roof."
As a result, the Senator demanded to know why the average landed cost at Kilindini in US dollars per barrel was US$60 (Ksh8,696) under the Open Tender System in the six months immediately preceding importation under the government-to-government arrangement, but shot up to US$120 (Ksh17,392) in the new deal.
He also questioned how the state, under the deal, ensured that it contracted for the products in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, and cost-effective manner in line with the Constitution.
Lastly, the activist poked holes on who benefited from the very high inflation of the landed cost at Kilindini in
US dollars per barrel.
"Kindly, note that failure to supply the information as requested will necessitate recourse to the Constitutional Court, at your risk as to costs, for orders regarding access to the requested information," he added.
In March 2023, the state signed a nine-month deal with three foreign companies namely Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation Global Trading (ADNOC) and Emirate’s National Oil Company (NOC) to supply the oil products on credit till December 2023.
In mid-September, the state extended the deal for one more year to end in December 2024.
Ruto, at the time, praised the deal as good noting that it would save the country Ksh68 billion every month as well as easing pressure on the dollar.
Without the deal, Kenya would have been required to raise Ksh74 billion (USD500 million) in dollars every month to pay for the imported oil.
