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MPs summon Ketraco, PSs over irregular Sh1.7bn wayleave pay
Chairperson of the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Butere MP Tindi Mwale during a committee session at Bunge Tower, Nairobi, on Tuesday, June 16, 2026.
Parliament has summoned top Energy Ministry officials over the irregular payment of Sh1.69 billion in wayleave compensation in the acquisition of transmission lines for seven donor-funded projects.
The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale, wants the Principal Secretary for Energy, Alex Wachira and other top officials to appear before it over irregular payment of billions of shillings in wayleave compensation.
A wayleave is a legal right -of-way that allows a utility or infrastructure company to install, operate, and maintain services such as power lines, fibre optic cables across or beneath private land.
A landowner retains ownership, but their right to build or plant trees in that corridor is restricted.
The decision to summon the top officers at the Ministry of Energy was made by Mr Mwale after Mr Wachira failed to appear before MPs to respond to queries raised in a forensic audit report of the Auditor General.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu examined wayleave compensation in seven donor-funded projects implemented by the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (Ketraco).
The report covered Ethiopia-Kenya transmission line, Kenya-Tanzania transmission line, Kenya-Uganda transmission line, Kenya Power Transmission System Improvement Project, India-funded project (Turkwel-Ortum-Kitale and Machakos Konza transmission line, Nairobi Ring (Suswa-Isinya), and Olkaria-Lesos-Kisumu transmission line.
“As at June 30, 2023, the value in the compensation schedules for the seven donor-funded projects under review amounted to Sh17,021,117.745, out of which Sh12,986,155,053 had been paid, leaving an outstanding balance of Sh4,034,962,891,” Gathungu, said in a forensic audit report.
“Ketraco had identified 2,638 parcels of land that were affected by the project. The total compensation for land and structures and crops that had been encumbered, affected or destroyed respectively, amounted to Sh2.62 billion. Out of this amount, Ketraco had paid Sh2.3 billion as at June 30, 2023, leaving an outstanding balance of Sh314.35 million,” Ms Gathungu said in an audit of the Ethiopia-Kenya transmission line.
Mr Mwale ordered that all former Principal Secretaries and former Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of Ketraco who served during the implementation of the projects be summoned.
Among those required to appear before the House team are former Ketraco boss and current Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa.
Documents tabled before the committee dated April 17, 2026, show that the former Permanent Secretaries Patrick Nyoike, who served between 2003 and 2013, Joseph Kamau, who served from 2013 to 2021, and Gordon Kihalangwa, who served between 2021 and 2022, had also been summoned to appear before the committee.
“Pursuant to the committee’s request, the following accounting officers for the State Department of Energy and the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company during the period covered by the audit between the financial year 2010/2011 to 2021/22, should appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday,” April 15, 2026,” states a letter that was received by the Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge on April 21, 2026.
The letter had also directed former Ketraco Managing Directors Joe Kiilu, who served between February 2009 and August 2015, Mr Barasa (August 2015 to February 2022), and Anthony Wamukota (February 2022 to January 2023) to appear before the PAC committee on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.
“We have given the officers at the Ministry and Ketraco enough indulgence. As a committee, we are committed to establishing the genuineness of the compensation claims and whether Kenyans obtained value for money from the projects," Mr Mwale said.
“This committee will also meet accounting officers, both former and current, who were responsible for the projects during the period under review.”
He said the committee is determined to establish the legitimacy of the compensation payments and determine whether Kenyans received value for money.
"As a committee, we are committed to establishing the genuineness of the compensation claims and whether Kenyans obtained value for money from the projects," Mr Mwale said before adjourning the meeting that was snubbed by PS Wachira and Ketraco management.
The PS, Ketraco, and its senior accounting officers have been fingered by Auditor General.
