Inside KPLC: The rot and milestones at Kenya Power
In our Part One of a Three Part series exposé, The Informer Media Group now delves inside the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), a public liability company mandated to transmit, distribute and retails electricity to customers throughout Kenya and we lay bare the extent of impunity, runaway theft, internal sabotage and successive maladministration by senior managers and board members some of who have active court cases in court while others are under investigations.
At the same time, in what marks a departure from the past few years, the previously perennial loss making entity posted a Sh30billion after tax profit in the year ending June 2024, an indication of bouncing back to profitability under the leadership of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eng. Joseph Siror.
In the same period last year ending June 2023, still under Siror’s leadership, Kenya Power posted a Sh3.19 billion net loss.
Despite being dogged by incessant claims, some said to be “budgeted corruption” according to insiders, KPLC is one of the leading government parastatals recording the highest number of multibillion tender litigations amongst suppliers including the Sh22billion smart meter deal.
Besides the utility firm being marred in internal procurement flaws involving senior managers and unscrupulous tenderpreneurs, it has also been flagged by the public procurement regulator, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) for awarding multimillion worth of contracts to unresponsive tenderers who defaulted in previous orders requisitioned by KPLC.
Also, in what could manifest bleak future for the utility company, in 2020, the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu warned in her that KPLC could be on its deathbed synonymous with the rampant incidents of power outages KPLC occasionally treats Kenyans to plunging the entire country into darkness.
In the audit summary for the year ending June 30, 2020, the company recorded a staggering Sh7 billion loss before tax.
This, against a pre-tax profit of a meagre Sh333.6 million in 2019, states the report.
It also reveals that the company’s current liabilities of Sh117.5 billion far exceed its current Sh42.6 billion assets by a whopping 74.8 billion as at June 30, 2020.
“The company’s current liabilities of Sh117,475,761,000 exceeded its current assets of Sh42,626,939,000 by Sh74,848,822,000 resulting to negative working capital, and a current ratio of 0.361:1 for various loans, which was below the current ratio of 1:1 threshold set out in the respective loan covenants. Consequently, the management is in breach of the regulation.” The report read in part.
In our subsequent broadcast, we give you blow by blow account over concerns about cartels holding the national power utility hostage and MD Siror’s determination to empty the swamp of decaying rot as revealed by our dive inside KPLC in our Part Two and Part Three series.
