National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah has watered down the fuel exposé released by Azimio's Raila Odinga, stating that it is part of the opposition's propaganda.
He further claimed that the dossier was part of the opposition's tactic to build its political base for the next General Election.
In a statement released on Thursday, Ichung'wah poked holes into Raila's dossier, where President William Ruto's administration was accused of disguising the government-to-government deal as a State project to help Kenyan Companies, Gulf Energy, Galana Oil Kenya Ltd, and Oryx Energies Kenya Limited, evade taxes.
The MP pointed out that the three companies were selected in an open tender system as they accounted for 80 per cent of all oil imports in the country.
Further, he noted that the Kenya Kwanza administration did not habour an interest in the companies Saudi State Corporations selected to distribute fuel locally.
"For the benefit of Raila and his ilk, the three companies (Gulf Energy, Galana Oil Kenya Ltd and Oryx Energies Kenya Ltd) are not agents of the Kenya government and are doing logistics on behalf of (Aramco and ADNOC) the two-state corporations in Saudi and United Arab Emirates," he defended Ruto.
"It is not the business of the Kenya government on who those corporations appoint as their Kenyan partners. Even under the Open Tender system, the three companies accounted for 80% of all oil imports in the country justifying their pick as the local logistics."
Ichung'wah also addressed the concerns about a diplomatic tiff between Kenya and Uganda over broken trade agreements. Uganda recently enacted a law that bars Kenyan companies from importing oil on its behalf.
The National Assembly majority leader emphasised that the government-to-government oil deal does not influence Uganda's oil imports as the country independently procures its products and only ships them through Kenya's pipeline.
"In this case, he must desist from dragging Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni's name in his shadowboxing against the Kenya Kwanza administration," he added.
"The assertion that the landing cost of oil products in our neighboring nations of Tanzania and Uganda is cheaper than Kenya is another flat lie and Odinga knows it."
He, however, indicated that the Kenya Kwanza administration was cleaning up the mess left by the handshake regime that led to the high cost of living.
