EPRA paid the rent to the landlord to occupy the office from 1st July 2020 to March 2022 at a total cost of Ksh. 6,684,120. However, by March 2022 despite having paid the rent in full, the authority had not occupied the office. When this matter leaked out, the management rushed and advertised a tender for office partitioning. The board under the chairmanship of Ojwang later claimed that the non-occupancy was a result of the long period of partitioning, fittings and remodeling of the office to conform to the authority’s needs and brand
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority management is in the spotlight following revelations that the authority paid a whooping Ksh. 6,684,120 as rent for office space that was never used. Sources well versed with this deal revealed to The Weekly Vision that EPRA Director General Daniel Kiptoo Bargoria and the board’s chairman Justice (Rtd) Jackton Ojwang authorized payments of a monthly rent of Ksh. 2,785,050 according to the lease agreement; the rent is payable in advance on quarterly basis.
EPRA paid the rent to the landlord to occupy the office from 1st July 2020 to March 2022 at a total cost of Ksh. 6,684,120. However, by March 2022 despite having paid the rent in full, the authority had not occupied the office. When this matter leaked out, the management rushed and advertised a tender for office partitioning. The board under the chairmanship of Ojwang later claimed that the non-occupancy was a result of the long period of partitioning, fittings and remodeling of the office to conform to the authority’s needs and brand. This explanation however does not hold water and one wonders why they rushed into paying rent before advertising for the tender to partition the office.
This was mismanagement of public funds and those found culpable should be surcharged. A payroll scam has also hit the Authority where financial statements and records indicate that Ksh. 630,822,709 was recorded as employee cost. However, investigations reveal that total employee costs were Ksh. 516,536,406 resulting in a variance of Ksh. 114,286,303. This, therefore, means that the management cannot account for the Ksh. 630,822,709.
The management is also said to be under pressure to explain the overpayment of Ksh. Ksh. 10,245,718 incurred on Consultancy for the Development of Environmental Health Safety (EHS) Guidelines for the Petroleum Upstream Sector. According to documents in our possession, the contract was awarded to a certain company on 11th June 2019 at a contract sum of slightly above 7, 000,000.00 the management cannot, therefore, explain or support the payment of Ksh. 17,076,196.
It has also been discovered that the management was involved in an irregular extension of the inspection of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Storage and Cylinder Contract. Records reveal that the management paid a total of Ksh. 85,515,453 since the inception of the contract resulting in an unexplained overpayment of Ksh. 13,897,053. According to the tender documents, the contract was awarded to a company on 28th March 2019 at a contract sum of Ksh. 35,809,200. The contract duration was for 2 years commencing 28th March 2019 to 28th March 2021. The contract was extended for one year on 25th March 2021 for a contract sum of Ksh. 35,809,200.
