Kenya Government deal with Essar worthy of more scrutiny

Raging debate over the ownership and running of Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited should not be allowed to obscure several key issues.

First, the Kenya Government gave Essar Energy Plc of India the option to buy 50 per cent of the shares owned by Shell, BP and Chevron, after the three multinationals baulked at financing the facility’s modernisation programme. In its attempts to woo the government, Essar over-promised and, not surprisingly, has under-delivered.