Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has responded to mounting public pressure calling for his resignation over the claimed Ksh4.8 billion substandard fuel saga.

Speaking during his appearance before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Energy on Monday, April 13, 2026, Wandayi maintained that there was no justification for him to step aside and expressed confidence that ongoing investigations would ultimately clear him of any wrongdoing.

“When all is said and done, when all is said and done, in the final analysis, clearly, there is no reason stopping me from discharging my duties as Cabinet Secretary,” he said.

During the intense grilling session, Wandayi gave a blow-by-blow account of how substandard fuel entered the country outside the government-to-government (G-to-G) agreement, insisting he had little to do with the consignment.

According to Wandayi, senior officials, including the Principal Secretary, were involved in processing and recommending approval of the shipment through a technical committee before the matter was escalated, noting that the deviation from the G-to-G framework would have required higher-level approval, which, he maintained, was never sought.

“In short, this deviation would have required higher approval. The approval was not sought, and if it had been sought, I would have acted on it and escalated the matter to the President,” Wandayi told the committee.

He, however, denied knowing the pending and eventual resignation of the three energy bosses, claiming that it could be a voluntary decision from the three and that they could have their own reasons. 

He also denied evidence of coercion against the trio, and the parliamentary committee demanded copies of the resignations said to have been signed through his office, which is the appointing authority.

“In that letter, they must have indicated one to resign. So maybe we will also be asking later on the respective appointing authority, also through your office, to provide a copy,” stated the committee.

Push for Wandayi’s resignation

Even as the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and United Democratic Alliance (UDA) parties moved to defend the CS as they called for a swift probe into the matter, People’s Liberation Party (PLP) Party Leader Martha Karua has demanded the resignation of Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi over the recent fuel scandal.

Speaking on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, during an interview with K24 TV, Karua said that Wandayi should have resigned as early as yesterday.

She argued that Wandayi, as the energy sector boss, should have known about the fuel scandal and that if he truly doesn’t know, he should then step down.

“In the energy sector, there is a minister, and that is Opiyo Wandayi. There is no way something of that magnitude happens under his watch, and he doesn’t know. And if he truly doesn’t know, he has no business in that office,” Karua said.

“You are paid to know what is happening, and if he didn’t know and it is a thing of this magnitude, come on, take political responsibility as your guys get arrested, throw in the towel, and go home because you have failed.”