A Kenya Pipeline Company depot in Nairobi.
Members of Parliament have put the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) on the spot over sale of 39 acres for a song 17 years ago after it emerged that records of the deal were destroyed last year under unclear circumstances.
The National Assembly Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy, which is investigating how the company sold the land at Sh7.9 million despite a report indicating that the land is valued at Sh697 million, said taxpayers did not get value for money in the deal.
The David Pkosing-led committee asked for details on the sale of the land from the management of KPC, which appeared before it yesterday over audit queries but were shocked after being told that details were among other thousands of documents destroyed by the State firm last year.
Documents tabled before the committee by KPC management, led by managing director Joe Sang indicate that the land was sold to Nakuru Express Suppliers Limited in 2007.
The lawmakers, however, demanded to know the faces behind the company that bought the land below market price, tendering documents, papers indicating how Nakuru Express Suppliers Limited was identified and whether the land has been sub-divided.
“There is a problem, and from the scrutiny of documents before us, there was a rush to give this land to Nakuru Express Suppliers. We want to know how it was identified and whether taxpayers got value for money, but from the look of things, they did not and we will make appropriate recommendations in our report,” Mr Pkosing said.
KPC supply chain managing director Nancy Rono told MPs that the firm destroyed some records that had stayed with them for over 10 years, including those being asked for by the committee.
“We dispose of records after 10 years, and the last one was done in December last year,” Ms Rono told MPs. The response, however, did not go down well with MPs who questioned why the company would destroy records of a matter that is still under audit.
“What informed the company to destroy documents of the matter still under active investigation by the Auditor General? Was it a deliberate move by KPC to destroy the documents yet they have not been cleared by the Auditor General? Asked Kaloleni MP Paul Katana.
Wajir West MP Yussuf Farah said there are a lot of gaps on how the land was sold and other critical documents are missing. The lawmakers also questioned why despite selling the land in 2007, the transfer was done in 2021
Company Secretary Flora Okoth told MPs that transfer of title was delayed since KPC outsources lawyers for such services but the process took longer than expected.
