Fuel saga: The buck stops with Opiyo Wandayi

Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi. [File, Standard]

When a ship runs aground, maritime law does not ask whether the Captain was on the bridge at the moment of impact. The real question would be: Was he in command? By that logic, Energy Cabinet Secretary (CS) Opiyo Wandayi has some serious explanation to give. Four of his men, Principal Secretary Mohamed Liban, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority Director General Daniel Kiptoo, Kenya Pipeline Company MD Joe Sang, and Energy Ministry deputy director Joseph Wafula, have been arrested and have resigned over a fuel scandal.

Documents show that the waiver permitting the substandard shipment, one carrying benzene levels dangerous enough to warrant dilution and manganese capable of causing neurological damage, was issued at the direct request of Mr Wandayi's State Department for Petroleum office.