Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The businesswoman behind the Sh17 billion oil importation saga is set to appear before MPs today to shed light on how the entire deal was crafted.

Lawmakers sitting in the departmental committee on Energy chaired by Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka said their decision to probe the matter is based on the fact that the huge volumes of petroleum oil involved, is likely to distort the market.

In their invitation letter to Ann Njoroge, the committee said they expect her to explain the country of origin of the consignment of multibillion diesel and the intended destination of the consignment.
Njoroge is also expected to give details on the ownership of the consignment including providing documentation to support her claim.

Reads the letter: “Attention of the Committee has been drawn to the ongoing discourse on dispute over ownership of an oil consignment allegedly imported by your company.

The Committee further notes that given the huge volumes of petroleum oil involved and the resultant potential to distort the market, it would be prudent to accord you an opportunity to apprise the Committee on the status of the matter.

“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to invite you to the meeting which will take place at the Mini-Chamber, County Hall on Wednesday 22nd November, at 10.00 am”.

The committee has also asked Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir to appear before it tomorrow to respond to the issues that will be raised by Njoroge as well as shed light on the Government -to-Government memorandum of understanding in the oil deal.

In the letter, the Committee said it is interested in being apprised on the issue of importation of the said fuel which has generated interest across the country.

Chirchir will be expected to provide all particulars in respect of the petroleum oil consignment including ownership details and the current status of the matter as well as submit to the Committee all the documents related to the extension of the Government -to- Government arrangement on oil importation to December, 2024.

Individual entities

He is also going to be grilled over the recurring power outage in the country and the action taken so far by the ministry on individuals entities responsible for the outages. Reads the letter: “In particular the committee is concerned that the ministry could not explain who was responsible for the outage, making it hard to ascertain who to hold to account for such failure of service delivery and other acts of omission or commission.

Consequently, the committee invites the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum to a meeting on Thursday November 23, 2023 at 10.00 am to apprise Members on the following matters.
Speaking yesterday, Musyoka confirmed that they had indeed invited the businesswoman and Chirchir to explain their role in the deal.

Reads the invitation to the CS: “Thursday 23rd November, 2023: Meeting with CS Energy regarding the disputed fuel consignment and the particulars of the extension of the G to G arrangement on oil importation into the country to December 2024.”

Musyoka said that apart from the duo they will also be inviting Galana Energies Limited to also shed light on the matter.

Galana is one of the three local companies handpicked by the government to receive fuel imports from the Gulf States under the Government-to-Government deal. It is not clear whether this particular cargo was part of that arrangement.

He said: “We must first listen to her to get her version and then we will listen to the minister on a different date. There is so much around the Sh17 billion deal, we can only get to understand after listening to them because each of them have their own version. We shall establish the truth in the oil deal, let us not pre-empt.”

The meeting comes after Njoroge who had gone missing resurfaced in Mombasa claiming she had been abducted.

Njoroge who claimed that she was abducted shortly after presenting herself to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said that it was her first time to make such an import but accused the government of trying to dispossess her of her property. She insisted that she had genuine documents to prove ownership of the cargo. The Kenya Ports Authority has dismissed her papers as “fake”.