Why Patrick Nyoike has been under scrutiny

Energy CS Charles Keter receives a report from Prof Izael Pereira Da Silva, flanked by Energy PS Joseph Njoroge, on reviewing IPP power purchase agreements. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Patrick Nyoike is a former senior civil servant who served as Kenya’s Permanent Secretary (PS) for Energy from 2003 to 2012, a period of significant expansion in the country’s power sector.

His tenure spanned the presidencies of Mwai Kibaki and part of Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, placing him at the centre of major energy policy decisions and procurement deals.

A career civil servant with a background in economics and planning, Nyoike held influential posts in the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Energy for decades.

As Energy PS, he held board positions at key State corporations, including Kenya Power, the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), and the Energy Regulatory Commission, giving him broad oversight of the sector.

During his time as Permanent Secretary, Nyoike was involved in the approval process for the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) project, one of Africa’s largest wind farms.

A 2024 draft report by Parliament’s Energy Committee, later amended, had initially recommended him for investigation over his role in fast-tracking the project’s power purchase agreement.

The parliamentary committee’s initial findings, cited in its November 2024 draft, noted that Nyoike’s actions proceeded despite concerns raised by the National Treasury about the project’s cost-effectiveness.

The final report, however, shifted to a broader recommendation for an investigation into ministry officials from that era, rather than naming individuals.

Since leaving public service, Nyoike has moved into the private energy sector. He is a director of Africa Geothermal International Ltd (AGIL), a company registered in 2010 during his final years as PS.

AGIL is now seeking to develop a geothermal power project in Longonot and sell the electricity to Kenya Power.

His relations with the geothermal firm were also scrutinised by the committee, which, in its inquiry, had invited Nyoike to shed light on his involvement in granting the company a geothermal resources licence. 

In a written submission to the Committee, Nyoike said he was not a director of AGIL by the time of licensing. The firm, the former PS submitted, applied for a geothermal resource licence on March 5, 2009 and was granted a licence by the then Energy Minister on July 9 of the same year.

Nyoike further explained that an amendment of the geothermal resource licence was granted on August 31, 2012, granting rights for a 30-year term after the date of the licence.

He also told the committee that two other firms – Walam Ltd and Marine Power Generation for Akira Prospect – were issued with geothermal resource licences during his tenure as PS in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

In the draft report, the Energy Committee had made observations that “AGIL got the licence for drilling in 2009, the same year it was incorporated, at the time when Mr Patrick Nyoike served as PS for the Energy Ministry”. 

It also noted that, typically, geothermal resource licences are typically 20-25 years, but AGIL’s licence was extended to 30 years. The Committee said in its earlier report that the extension was done “without accompanying justification”. 

“The Committee noted that from the submission by Nyoike, he did not provide the Committee with correspondence from him to the Solicitor General seeking concurrence in the approval of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), hence the need for further investigation on the matter subject to... the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act,” reads the draft report.

Nyoike’s transition from a regulatory role to a commercial one in the same sector illustrates the revolving door between high-level public service and private energy development in Kenya.

His career trajectory, from overseeing power purchasers to now being a power seller, continues to attract scrutiny from observers of Kenya’s energy landscape.