The probe stems from a Special Audit Report that reviewed wayleave compensation payments Public Accounts Committee chair Tindi Mwale,/HANDOUT Former principal secretaries, former KETRACO CEOs and senior energy officials are under scrutiny as a parliamentary watchdog committee investigates wayleave compensation payments amounting to billions of shillings.
This is after the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee opened an investigation into Sh17.02 billion in payments that lawmakers have questioned The lawmakers have summoned a sitting Principal Secretary, former accounting officers and past Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) bosses to explain compensation payments made over a 13-year period.
Among those expected to appear before the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a current governor. The probe stems from a Special Audit Report that reviewed wayleave compensation payments in seven donor-funded power transmission projects between the 2010-11 and 2022-23 financial years.
Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale, said the decision to summon the officials was reached after PS Wachira failed to appear before the committee to respond to queries raised in the forensic audit report. "As a Committee, we are committed to establishing the genuineness of the compensation claims and whether Kenyans obtained value for money from the projects," Mwale said.
The audit examined a compensation programme worth Sh17.02 billion and raised questions that MPs now want answered. The audit revealed that the compensation programme had been allocated Sh17.02 billion, with Sh4.03 billion still unpaid despite the projects spanning over 13 years.
The lawmakers expressed concern over the scale of the payments and the length of time over which the compensation programme was implemented, raising questions about oversight, verification of claims and overall project management.