Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa is among the former executives of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) wanted by lawmakers to answer questions on irregular payments of Sh14 billion in wayleave compensation.
The National Assembly Public Accounts Committee wants Mr Barasa to respond to queries raised in the September 2025 forensic audit.
Energy PS Alex Wachira addresses the 11th Powering Africa Summit in Washington DC on March 19, 2026.
Photo credit: Photo I Pool
Energy Principal Secretary, Alex Wachira, appeared before the House committee last week but was turned away for not having prepared for the session adequately.
The MPs demanded that he return with individuals who served as Ketraco chiefs for the period under review.
“You have not treated this audit with the seriousness it deserves,” Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera, who chaired the session, said.
“You appear to be interacting with this document for the first time, given the hurry in which you have requested more time.”
The lawmaker then demanded that Mr Wachira return with the individuals who served as Ketraco MDs in that period.
He started as acting MD on August 1, 2015 and was confirmed on April 7, 2016, for a three-year contract.
His contract was renewed for the final three years in April 2019, but he resigned on January 31, 2022, to contest the Kakamega county boss seat.
The audit covering 13 financial years – from 2010/11 to 2022/23 – shows the compensation was budgeted at Sh17.02 billion, out of which Sh4.03 billion remains outstanding.
According to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, the audit was to establish the accuracy and genuineness of the wayleave compensations as well as compliance with the law by Ketraco.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The irregularities identified include a variance between the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) and the compensation amount, lack of documents, irregular payment based on revaluation, over-valuation and overpayment for parcels of land.
Others are lack of guidelines on land revaluations or renegotiations, irregular engagement of a valuer, failure to provide criteria used in sampling parcels of land to be valued, unapproved valuation schedules, irregular payment of top-ups and unsupported vouchers.
Ms Gathungu notes in her report that though Ketraco was constantly updated on the process, including the documents required, the files were not provided for audit, raising questions on whether the funds were applied for a worthy reason.
“Electricity transmission infrastructure is critical for national energy security and economic transformation. Way leave compensation ensures RAPs are lawfully and fairly compensated for land, crops and structures affected by high-voltage transmission lines,” the audit says.
“Persistent arrears and weak controls in this area risk project delays, litigation and financial loss to the government.”
A power transmission line under construction.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The projects include the Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu transmission line valued at Sh5.58 billion, out of which Sh2.27 billion has not been paid; and the Sh2.62 billion Ethiopia-Kenya line, of which Sh2.31 billion has been settled.
There is also the Kenya-Tanzania line valued at Sh1.64 billion, of which Sh1.3 billion has been settled; the Sh1.84 billion Kenya-Uganda line valued at Sh1.84 billion, with Sh478.7 million pending; and the Turkwel-Ortum-Kitale line costing Sh865.3 million that has Sh650.8 million settled.
The others are the Sh2.2 billion Nairobi Ring (Suswa-Isinya), of which Sh146.36 million remains unpaid; the Kenya Power Transmission System Improvement Programme valued at Sh2.27 billion, with Sh263.68 million pending; and the Sh55.4 million Machakos-Konza line, out of which Sh29.81 million has been paid.
A huge variance between RAP and the compensation amount was flagged in the Nairobi Ring line project.
The estimated cost of resettlement as per the RAP was Sh283.1 million, yet the final compensation was Sh2.2 billion – an increase of Sh1.9 billion or a 663.22 per cent.
“There is a likelihood that the increase was a result of poor planning and budgeting in the initial planning phase,” the audit says.
Supporting documents for the outstanding wayleave compensation of Sh478.7 million for the Kenya-Uganda transmission line were not provided to the audit team.
The review of the total payments of Sh1.4 billion showed Sh17.8 million was paid to 65 Project-Affected Persons (PAPs) who had rejected offer letters.
“The amount should not have been paid since compensation is paid upon acceptance of the offer and execution of the necessary agreements,” the audit adds.
A review of Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu transmission line revealed that 19 parcels of land initially valued at Sh27.9 million were compensated for Sh41.73 million.
“Review of payment records revealed that revaluation documentation was missing, making it impossible to verify the legitimacy of the excess payment,” the report says.
“The audit team found that Ketraco lacked guidelines or procedures for conducting revaluation for compensation.”
A review of valuation reports for the Kenya-Tanzania transmission line showed 58 parcels of land had their compensation amounting to Sh292.99 million approved for payment.
But based on the recalculated size of the parcels of land, according to the audit, the amount payable ought to have been Sh159.6 million.
The audit criticised Ketraco for irregularly paying Sh116.2 million to PAPs for 48 of the 58 parcels that were overvalued by Sh133.4 million.
The lack of guidelines on land revaluations or renegotiations was also identified. It was established that 14 pieces of land with an initial value of Sh65.9 million were renegotiated to Sh128.63 million.
Ketraco did not have clear guidelines or policies for land revaluations, contrary to section 9.1 of the Resettlement Policy Framework of 2011.
“The audit could not ascertain if renegotiations were based on open market value. The lack of renegotiation documents may be an avenue for the loss of funds by increasing the compensation, leading to inequitable treatment, financial uncertainty and project implementation delays,” the report by the Auditor-General says.
It was established that Realmast Ltd was issued a letter of instructions to value sampled parcels of land along the Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu transmission line. However, a review of the list of pre-qualified companies for the provision of valuation services for the 2015-17 period revealed that Realmast Ltd had not been pre-qualified, contravening the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act.
According to the audit, Ketraco valued 259 pieces of land out of 3,132 affected parcels, representing eight per cent, which was used as a basis of computing the compensation payable to the PAPs.
“The criteria used to determine the 259 parcels that were sampled and valued were not provided for audit. It was, therefore, not possible to confirm the accuracy, reliability and authenticity of the value of the land provided by the valuers,” the report says.
A review of schedules provided revealed that three valuations for land and structures amounting to Sh314.73 million were not approved by the Ketraco MD, but out of which Sh49.02 million was paid to the PAPs.
The auditors noted that for the six valuations, the initial compensation was Sh1.62 billion, 30 per cent of the open market value.
But Ketraco made a 20 per cent top-up of Sh659.51 million, resulting in an increase in the way leave compensation amount to Sh2.28 billion, with documentary evidence not provided for audit.
The assessment of the Ethiopia-Kenya way leave compensation schedule revealed that Ketraco paid top-ups, also known as second payments, of Sh24.02 million to 59 landowners despite the Resettlement Policy Framework of 2011 and 2021 not having provisions for the payment of top-ups after the initial compensation to the landowners.
“It was not clear why Ketraco made the top-up payments. No documentary evidence was provided on efforts made by the company to recover the amount,” the report adds.
The audit also shows that out of the Sh1.3 billion payable for way leave compensation, Ketraco had paid Sh1.1 billion for parcels of land, Sh36.7 million for structures and Sh223.9 million for crops.
However, payment vouchers for compensation to landowners amounting to Sh18.3 million did not have supporting documents “to confirm registration”.
“The payments could not be traced to Ketraco’s bank statements,” the audit says.
Failure to recover money paid for parcels of land not affected by the project was established by auditors.
Cadastral schedule, cadastral map and compensation schedule provided the Kenya-Tanzania inter-connector project with field visits, revealing that three parcels of land were irregularly compensated for Sh3.03 million “despite the parcels no longer being affected by the way leave corridor”.
