Kenya To Investigate Deep Corruption in KPLC Including Firms Like OrPower IV and Other Key Suppliers

Nairobi, Kenya – The Kenyan Parliament has unleashed what could become the most explosive corruption probe in the country’s energy sector history, ordering immediate forensic audits into Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and a network of private power producers suspected of systematically looting billions of shillings from ordinary Kenyans through fraudulent contracts and inflated electricity tariffs.

In a move that has sent shockwaves through Kenya’s political and business establishment, lawmakers have directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Auditor General, and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to launch comprehensive investigations that will target not just faceless contractors, but former Energy Ministers, Principal Secretaries, and senior executives who presided over what investigators are now calling one of the most sophisticated corruption networks in Kenya’s public sector.

At the center of the storm is KPLC itself, the state-owned monopoly distributor of electricity whose rot has been festering for years beneath a veneer of public service.

The company, which serves millions of Kenyan households and industries, has been transformed into what parliamentary investigators describe as a criminal enterprise masquerading as a national utility, where procurement decisions are made in boardrooms controlled by politically connected cartels rather than in the public interest.

The investigations will scrutinize OrPower IV, Kenya’s pioneering Independent Power Producer (IPP) that signed its first Power Purchase Agreement in 1998 for an eight megawatt geothermal plant.

What began as a promising venture to diversify Kenya’s energy sources has now become emblematic of the predatory contracts that have bled KPLC dry and kept electricity prices artificially high for decades.

The terms of these agreements, negotiated in secrecy and shielded from public scrutiny, have left taxpayers footing exorbitant bills while private firms rake in guaranteed profits regardless of actual power demand or economic conditions.

But OrPower IV is just the tip of an iceberg that goes far deeper than most Kenyans realize.

Fresh revelations have exposed how KPLC awarded contracts worth over 2.3 billion shillings through an obscure entity called the Supplies Branch, a shadowy procurement channel that was supposed to have been dismantled when the Public Procurement and Disposal Act came into force in 2007.

Instead, this relic of the old system was secretly preserved and weaponized by insiders who saw an opportunity to bypass competitive bidding and funnel billions to pre-selected companies.

The list of beneficiaries reads like a who’s who of Kenya’s procurement cartels.

East Africa Meter Company walked away with a staggering 1.54 billion shillings for supplying cables, fuse link wedges, and smart meters, all without the contract ever being publicly advertised.

Briskmove Investment Limited pocketed 440 million shillings for surge arresters, fuse carriers, stay rods, and copper earth rods.

Waterfall Agencies received 176 million shillings for double cutouts, fuse link wedges, and circuit breakers. Doublelink Enterprises Limited and Skydrop Merchants were each paid 60 million and 74 million shillings respectively for conductors, cables, and fuse link wedges.

These contracts, awarded in 2024 alone, represent just a fraction of the systematic pillaging that has occurred over years.

None of these tenders went through the competitive bidding process required by law. None were advertised publicly.

The goods supplied were common consumer items that should have been procured through open, transparent processes. Instead, they were funneled through the Supplies Branch in what amounts to a deliberate circumvention of every safeguard put in place to protect public funds.

The corruption extends far beyond inflated contracts.

Investigators have uncovered evidence of ghost suppliers who deliver nothing but receive full payment, creating artificial shortages of essential materials like transformers and prepaid meters to justify emergency purchases at astronomical prices.

These manufactured crises enrich a select few while leaving millions of Kenyans in the dark, literally and figuratively, as KPLC claims it lacks the resources to maintain basic infrastructure.

Pokot South MP David Pkosing, who chairs the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy (PICCAE), has emerged as the face of parliamentary fury over KPLC’s betrayal of public trust.

During heated sessions in November 2025, Pkosing grilled KPLC Managing Director Engineer Joseph Siror and his leadership team, exposing layer after layer of malfeasance that has left the once-proud parastatal on the brink of insolvency.

The numbers are devastating. According to the Auditor General’s report for the year ending June 30, 2019, KPLC’s current liabilities stood at 115.2 billion shillings against assets of just 44.2 billion shillings, leaving a negative working capital of 71 billion shillings.

This marked the third consecutive year of deficits, raising serious questions about whether the company can even continue operating without a massive taxpayer bailout.

Siror attempted to blame the crisis on capital-intensive projects implemented between 2014 and 2018 under the government’s universal electrification agenda and the ambitious 5,000 megawatt power generation plan.

He claimed that funding came from medium-term commercial loans for long-term projects, creating a catastrophic mismatch. But lawmakers were having none of it.

The real problem, they argued, was not ambitious infrastructure projects but the systemic theft that occurred during their implementation.

The procurement irregularities are breathtaking in their brazenness.

In 2018, KPLC awarded a 55.9 million shilling contract directly to an advertising firm without competitive bidding.

Management claimed it was a temporary solution, but the Auditor General flagged it as a clear breach of the Constitution and procurement laws. “This smells of vested interests,” Pkosing declared. “Public procurement must be competitive and transparent.”

Perhaps nothing illustrates the human cost of this corruption more viscerally than the case raised by Wajir East MP Yussuf Farah.

Three years after commissioning a diesel generator in his constituency, the machine has never functioned properly. KPLC claims the generator lacks batteries and fuel, yet residents continue to be billed for services they never receive while simultaneously paying taxes that were supposed to fund functional infrastructure. MPs branded it a white elephant and demanded accountability.

But the rot goes even deeper into KPLC’s technological infrastructure.

The Auditor General identified alarming vulnerabilities in the company’s IT systems, including delayed system log reviews, lax password controls, and super-users with unrestricted access to critical systems.

Three of four core systems lack proper activity monitoring, creating what Pkosing called “a ticking time bomb” for fraud and cyber breaches. These weaknesses don’t just threaten financial data but potentially the entire national grid, as hackers could exploit these gaps to cause widespread blackouts.

KPLC’s ICT team insisted they had deployed IBM QRadar, Microsoft Defender, and Oracle audit trails to enhance security, but committee members remained unconvinced.

The super-user access problem is particularly disturbing because it allows individuals to manipulate billing systems, alter procurement records, and cover their tracks without leaving any audit trail.

In a company already drowning in corruption allegations, such unfettered access is an invitation to theft on an industrial scale.

Past investigations by the EACC and Parliament have repeatedly uncovered patterns of collusion between senior KPLC managers and politically connected contractors.

Tenders are pre-determined long before they are advertised, with the bidding process serving as mere theater to create an illusion of transparency.

Whistleblowers and mid-level procurement officers who dare to resist the system face intimidation, punitive transfers, or outright dismissal.

The message is clear: play along or pay the price.

The cartels have perfected their craft over years of practice.

They create artificial shortages, inflate prices, deliver substandard goods, and in some cases deliver nothing at all while still collecting full payment. Billions of shillings worth of obsolete items sit in KPLC stores as dead stock, purchased at inflated prices from connected suppliers and never used.

Meanwhile, ordinary Kenyans endure some of the highest electricity tariffs in the region, with each bill containing hidden charges that service the debt incurred through these corrupt dealings.

The upcoming investigations will not spare the powerful.

Former Energy Ministers and their Principal Secretaries who oversaw this systematic looting will be summoned to explain how contracts worth billions were approved without proper due diligence.

The probe will examine not just KPLC but the entire ecosystem of private power producers whose sweetheart deals have locked Kenya into decades of inflated power purchase agreements that guarantee profits regardless of actual electricity consumption or economic conditions.

OrPower IV and other IPPs will face intense scrutiny over their Power Purchase Agreements, particularly the clauses that force KPLC to pay for electricity whether it needs it or not, a take-or-pay arrangement that has left the distributor hemorrhaging cash while private firms enjoy guaranteed returns.

These agreements, negotiated behind closed doors with minimal parliamentary oversight, have effectively privatized profits while socializing losses, with taxpayers left holding the bag.

The scale of the conspiracy suggests involvement at the highest levels of government. Procurement cartels don’t operate in a vacuum.

They require political protection, bureaucratic complicity, and law enforcement indifference.

The fact that this system has flourished for years despite repeated exposés and investigations points to a level of state capture that goes beyond individual corruption to represent a fundamental failure of governance.

Pkosing has made clear that the committee will conduct fact-finding missions to Wajir and other counties with stalled or underperforming energy projects.

“This is not about politics,” he declared. “It’s about justice for Kenyans. Electricity is a basic service, not a profit-making venture for a few well-connected individuals. Kenyans deserve answers, transparency, and value for money.”

The investigations come at a critical moment for KPLC. Despite some progress in turning around its finances, the company remains deeply distrusted by the public.

Every electricity bill is viewed with suspicion.

Every outage is attributed to incompetence or malice. Every rate increase is seen as another opportunity for insiders to steal.

This crisis of confidence threatens not just KPLC but Kenya’s broader development agenda, as investors hesitate to commit to a country where even basic utilities are compromised by corruption.

The probe will test whether Kenya’s anti-corruption institutions have the independence and courage to follow the evidence wherever it leads, even if it implicates powerful political figures.

Previous investigations have often ended in impunity, with suspects retiring quietly or being transferred to other lucrative positions rather than facing prosecution. This time, lawmakers insist, will be different.

But skepticism is warranted.

Kenya has seen countless corruption scandals erupt in headlines only to fade into obscurity as powerful interests mobilize to protect their own.

The Goldenberg scandal, Anglo Leasing, the NYS heists, all promised accountability but delivered little.

The question now is whether the KPLC investigations will break this pattern or simply add another chapter to Kenya’s long history of corruption without consequences.

What is clear is that ordinary Kenyans can no longer afford business as usual at KPLC.

Every shilling stolen through fraudulent procurement is a shilling that could have been invested in expanding access to electricity, maintaining existing infrastructure, or reducing tariffs.

Every ghost contract is a betrayal of the millions who sit in darkness not because Kenya lacks the capacity to generate power but because the money meant to deliver that power has been stolen by a cabal of politicians, bureaucrats, and businesspeople who view public service as a license to loot.

The coming months will reveal whether Kenya has the political will to dismantle the cartels that have captured its energy sector.

The tools are available: forensic audits, criminal investigations, parliamentary oversight.

What remains to be seen is whether those tools will be wielded with sufficient force to break the grip of corruption or whether, as so often before, the powerful will escape justice while ordinary Kenyans continue to pay the price for elite impunity.

For now, KPLC stands exposed, its ledgers open, its secrets spilling out. The next chapter in this saga will determine not just the fate of one parastatal but whether Kenya can reclaim its public institutions from the cartels that have colonized them.

The stakes could not be higher.

Without reliable, affordable electricity, Kenya’s economic ambitions remain just that, ambitions. With KPLC in its current state, captured by corruption and hemorrhaging public funds, those ambitions recede further from reach with each passing day.

The investigations ordered by Parliament represent perhaps the last, best chance to save KPLC from itself and restore electricity distribution to its rightful purpose: serving the Kenyan people rather than enriching a corrupt few.

Whether that chance will be seized or squandered remains the billion-shilling question.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​