Prove me wrong and release oil deal agreement, Raila dares Ruto

Raila Odinga at ODM leaders high-level Meeting held in Nairobi. [Emmanuel Wanson, Standard]

Azimio leader Raila Odinga has challenged President William Ruto’s administration to prove that the government-to-government oil deal is not a scam.

Speaking on Friday during an ODM Parliamentary Group/ leaders meeting in Nairobi, Raila poked holes into the deal and castigated MPs allied to the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance for politicising the matter.

The opposition leader made a series of demands to the government, among them, making public the signed memorandum of understanding between the government, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“I challenge the government to contradict what I said [through the dossier]. We want to see the memorandum of understanding between the three governments and not the agreement signed by the minister of energy and the CEO of the oil importing companies, “stated Raila.

He also demanded for the tax returns filed by the “shadowy” companies as a result of the importation of the oil to be made public as well as the supplier purchase agreement which Raila said, would substantiate his claims.

“While at it, the government should tell us why the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) boss was involved in the negotiation of this contract yet he is also the one fixing oil prices. If that is not corruption then I do not know what it is,” said Raila.

The new demands are a sustained attack on the Ruto administration on an onslaught that began on Tuesday when the former Prime Minister released a dossier terming the government-to-government oil deal a grand scam.

Corruption

In the densely worded November 16 document, Raila highlighted what he claimed were inconsistencies and corruption linked to the oil deal and called for its immediate cancellation.

Raila, for instance, sought to know why despite Ruto’s championing of the deal with the promise of a reduction in fuel, the price of the oil had gone up.

His sentiments expectedly attracted a lot of criticism from Energy and Petroleum CS Davis Chirchir who sought to shed light on the deal and also to discredit Raila’s dossier.

In a statement to newsrooms, Chirchir said that Oil Marketing Companies were over the last two years unable to access petroleum products over an alleged lack of USD liquidity and outstanding subsidies from the government.

Chirchir explained that upon ascension to power, the Ruto regime put out a tender for government-owned international oil companies to bid for the supply of petroleum on 180-days deferred payment terms and a contract period of 270 days.

The tender closed on March 6, 2023, he said, and the government had received bids from; Emirates National Oil Company, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Saudi Aramco, Petrosa & Trafigura, Vitol Bahrain and the State-Owned Company of the Republic of Azerbaijani.

He, however, revealed that the tender was cancelled after the bidders failed to meet the set requirements and consequently direct negotiations with State owned bidders and their respective governments, leading to the signing of MoU with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“On March 10, 2023, GoK through the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum entered into Master Framework Agreements (MFAs) with Aramco Trading Fujairah FZE (ARAMCO), Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Global Trading Ltd and Emirates National Oil Company (Singapore) Private Limited (ENOC) for the supply of petroleum products under a Government-to-Government arrangement (the G-to-G arrangement) on extended credit terms of 180 days,” Chirchir said.

He added: “Contrary to the assertion that the government selected/handpicked the Nominated Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), the selection of the Nominated OMCs is the prerogative of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) in line with the Master Framework Agreement.”

Chirchir further said: “In any case the IOCs would have opted to handle the entire chain of the transaction which would have necessitated them to be licensed in Kenya. However, they opted to nominate counterparties to handle local logistics.

“The IOCs nominated Gulf Energy Limited, Galana Energies Limited and Oryx Energies Kenya Limited as their counterparties in the transaction. The pricing of the products is clearly stipulated in the Master Framework Agreement.”

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