Circus goes on at pipeline’s corridors as staff fleece firm

By Standard Reporter

Several issues raise the eyebrows at Kenya Pipeline Corporation and staff are worried they would continue to cast their company in bad light. The hot issues being raised include:

Massive Recycling of Spare parts being supplied to KPC but paid for as new. There is hue and cry about recycled spare parts in Kenya Pipeline, which has pitted the Chief Mechanical engineer against other engineers who use the spares.

While the user engineers insist the spares are recycled, the Chief Engineer is adamant they are new.

Some long servicing technicians have formed companies in cahoots with outsiders to not only pilfer spares parts from KPC stores and re-supply them but also recycle old ones, repackage them and supply them to KPC.

The issue is so contentious that it is said when Internal Audit in Kenya Pipeline raised the matter and got KACC to investigate it, the employees involved conspired to have the Chief Auditor eliminated.

• Appointment of KPC Lawyer: The due process of procurement was not followed in recruiting a lawyer for KPC and questions were not asked when the Bill of Sh25 million came. It was speedily due to pressure from the Ministry headquarters.

Allowance backdated

• Acting Allowance: When current Managing Director Mr Selest Kilinda was appointed to act as MD KPC did not have a clear policy on how much acting allowance should be paid.

One was quickly put in place and when this was passed by the board it was only Mr Kilinda’s acting allowance which was backdated yet there were eight other acting appointments

• Website improvement: Kenya Pipeline is doing a website improvement and what was initially projected to cost Sh1 million had shot up by 100 per cent.

• Payment of rejected goods from M/s Capitan (UK) Ltd: Despite the rejection of flanged gate valves by the user in June, the company paid Sh5.7 million and also issued a supplementary order for Sh2.6 million.

External interference

Internal auditors get the flak: Internal Audit Department in KPC was instrumental in exposing the scandals that have led to the current changes in Management. But that has come with a very heavy price for them.

In their reports on the Triton saga and the just completed project they did not mince their words in pointing out the external interference leading to a threat by a top Ministry official vowing in one of the meetings if he survives the scandals he will teach them a lesson. It is believed he is now on the revenge streak.

The Technical Engineer George Ouma was transferred and three of his assistants have since been transferred to other departments. The other acting manager has been left to mark-time in his former position.