Lifestyle Audit For Over 10,000 Kenya Power Employees Creates Tension

Hundreds of Kenya Power employees could be shown the door and prosecuted if found to have been involved in fraud.

This comes even as the sole power distributor in the country commences a lifestyle audit for its employees, beginning with the executive.

According to reports by Business Daily, Kenya Power has roped in the services of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission(EACC) to verify the wealth of its employees.

The company is also targeting contractors that it has been working with the power distributor.

Read: Audit Reveals Ksh9.8 Billion Dead Stock In Kenya Power

The audit is backed by Kenya Electrical Trades and Allied Workers Union (Ketawu), the workers union representing Kenya Power employees.

“We fully support the lifestyle audit and urge management to remain fair as it promised. Everyone should be open to scrutiny,” said Ernest Nadome, Ketawu secretary-general, as quoted by the daily.

The audit was recommended by a task force formed by President Uhuru Kenyatta led by Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) boss John Ngumi.

The task force also recommended an overhaul of the procurement department.

“KPLC board replace (redeploy, redesignate, redundancy) all the staff in the entire procurement department and recruit new staff. In the interim, KPLC to outsource procurement to other government agencies with demonstrated experience in procurement of certain high-quality engineering equipment and machinery,” said the task force.

Read: Kenya Power Loses Its Autonomy As Gov’t Cracks Whip

In a recent audit, it was found that Kenya Power Could have spent at least Ksh9.8 billion on deadstock including transformers, cables, and metres, an audit has revealed.

According to Energy Principal Secretary Gordon Kihalangwa, the sole power distributor has been keeping the equipment for over five years.

“We have realised that Kenya Power has a dead stock of Ksh9.8 billion currently,” he told the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Kenya Power recorded a net loss of Ksh2.98 billion in the financial year ended June 2020, the first loss in 17 years.

An inter-ministerial committee comprising of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Central Bank’s Financial Reporting Centre, and the Assets Recovery Agency has been formed to probe Kenya Power’s supply and demand needs, and pricing policies.

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