News09 April 2026 - 05:00

Inside the fuel saga: How Kebs, Wandayi emerged unscathed

Leaked memo shows why President spared Energy CS, Kebs MD.

by MOSES OGADA

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***Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi at a past event. /FILE***

Fresh details have emerged on why President William Ruto spared two senior government officials in the fuel import saga, even as the axe fell on some of his close allies at the centre of the controversy.

The revelations come as detectives widen the probe, grilling another group of high-profile officials—members of the vessel alignment committee—where a key decision on the “emergency” importation of fuel was made.

A review of the controversial import indicates that Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi and Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) managing director Esther Ngari were largely kept in the dark, particularly on critical approvals that triggered the crisis.

Wandayi is understood to have insisted on maintaining the Government-to-Government (G-to-G) fuel import model, widely seen as more cost-effective for the taxpayer.

“The Cabinet Secretary, Energy and Petroleum, has since directed that even as appropriate stopgap measures are taken to mitigate the situation as it evolves, all the imports are to be within the G-to-G framework,” immediate former Petroleum PS Mohamed Liban stated in a brief dated April 2, 2026.

The Kebs boss did not append her signature to any decision relaxing fuel quality standards—an omission that insiders say proved significant given the sensitivity of the agency.

Kebs remains a high-stakes institution, with at least two former managing directors previously arrested and charged over substandard imports.

Wandayi, however, appears to have been sidelined in what insiders describe as a complex web of decisions, miscommunication and a “pre-determined procurement path”.

Documents and correspondence reviewed show the CS was, to a large extent, excluded from the core decision-making loop.

A note from the National Security Council Committee indicates that Wandayi was not copied in the initial communication that set the process in motion.

In the memo, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei tasked Energy PS Alex Wachira and Petroleum PS Mohamed Liban with implementing the committee’s resolutions by virtue of their roles as accounting officers.

Sources say the directive from the committee may have complicated efforts to pursue charges against three senior officials—close allies of the President—who were directly involved in execution.

Liban, Kenya Pipeline Company managing director Joe Sang, and Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority chief executive officer Daniel Kiptoo were arrested on Friday night.

They have since been released but are yet to be formally charged in court.

The March 9 memo was addressed to a wide network of principal secretaries, including Chris Kiptoo (Treasury), Bonface Makokha (Economic Planning), Alex Wachira (Energy), Liban (Petroleum), Regina Ombam (Trade) and Teresia Mbaika (Aviation).

It issued specific instructions to “mitigate immediate economic impacts” of the US-Iran war while “addressing strategic vulnerabilities”.

The communication was copied to senior officials across government, including PSs Patrick Mariru (Defence), Raymond Omollo (Internal Security), Korir Sing’Oei (Foreign Affairs) and Hassan Abubakar (Investments Promotion).

It was also shared with Chief of Defence Forces Charles Kahariri, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and former Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) director general Daniel Kiptoo.

Another key correspondence was a letter from Trade CS Lee Kinyanjui to Wandayi.

In the letter, Kinyanjui informed the Energy CS that a decision had been made to exempt the hastily secured fuel consignment from rigorous Kebs testing.

“Waiver is hereby granted on the oxygenates, manganese, sulphur and senzene parameters in the KS EAS 158:2025, automotive gasoline specifications standard for 68,000 tonnes of premium motor spirit aboard Mt Paloma,” Kinyanjui wrote.

It remains unclear why the waiver did not originate from Kebs, the statutory body mandated to enforce quality standards.

Notably, Kebs did not respond directly to the initial request for a waiver made by PS Liban.

Instead, it was the Trade CS who communicated the decision to the Energy CS, raising further questions about the chain of accountability.

While Kinyanjui’s letter referenced two earlier communications from the Petroleum department, ministry sources indicate that no physical copies were ever delivered to Wandayi’s office.

Indeed, it has emerged that the letters never reached the CS in time.

A copy of the Trade Ministry correspondence shows that although it was dated March 28, it was only received at Wandayi’s office on March 30—by which point the first shipment had already docked.

It is understood that the letter was delivered at the ministry, which has central say in matters of energy, after the first ship had docked and cargo discharged.

It is understood that it was on the receipt of this letter that CS Wandayi directed Liban to stop the second shipment.

In the letter to Wandayi, CS Kinyanjui said the waiver was conditional, and that the fuel was to be subjected to inspection at the destination.

He said the fuel would be commingled with the existing stock and asked Epra and Kenya Pipeline Company to control the distribution of the commingled stocks.

This was to await the arrival of another consignment, which was to be used “to further mitigate excess manganese in the fuel currently in stock.”

The miscommunication has emerged as a central plank in Wandayi’s defence, that he neither initiated nor substantively influenced the procurement model that ultimately triggered the crisis.

Complicating matters further is the involvement of the National Security Council Committee (NSCC), which sanctioned the sourcing of the fuel consignment amid fears of an impending shortage.

While the NSCC’s approval provided political cover for the importation, investigators say it did not, and could not, override established procurement frameworks.

The fuel was sourced outside the standard Government-to-Government (G-to-G) arrangement, a deviation that has since been flagged as irregular.

The departure from protocol, rather than the importation itself, appears to have alarmed the President.

Sources indicate that once details of the procurement breaches reached State House, the matter was escalated, leading to the arrest of PS Liban, Kiptoo and KPC’s Joe Sang.

They were booked on alleged inflated pricing, lack of transparency and the potential for manipulation by entrenched cartels.

A waiver issued to allow the importation of 68,000 tonnes of premium motor spirit (PMS) with specifications that did not fully comply with Kenyan standards raised eyebrows.

The Star has established that the substandard product was red-flagged during quality control procedures at KPC.

The document shows Kinyanjui recommended to the authorities to relax certain parameters under KS EAS 158:2025 to accommodate the cargo aboard the vessel MT Paloma.

While Kebs has come under scrutiny over the waiver, insiders argue that the agency acted within a request framework that had already been escalated through multiple government layers.

Kebs MD Ngari did not pen her signature in the reply to Liban’s request. Kinyanjui wrote back by virtue of the standards agency being under the Trade ministry docket.

Investigators are questioning whether the agency was being used as a technical conduit for a decision already taken elsewhere.

This interpretation appears to have influenced the President’s decision not to take immediate action against Ngari.

Officials directly involved in the execution of the procurement have borne the brunt of the fallout, especially those linked to the vessel committee and supply chain processes.

Their roles, investigators say, placed them closer to the operational irregularities, including the structuring of the deal outside the G-to-G framework, and the handling of documentation tied to the shipment.

On Wednesday, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) recorded statements from additional members of the vessel committee.

The committee sat on March 18, 2026, and concluded that Kenya was facing a fuel crisis.

"Following the situation, it was noted that the country is very low on PMS stocks and the PMS daily demand had increased by an average of 20 per cent with an expectation of rising demand due to the upcoming holidays," minutes of the meeting seen by the Star reads.

"The ministry requested to consult internally and revert the possibility of calling an emergency PMS cargo,"

The move signalled that the probe is now zeroing in on the technical chain of events rather than the political leadership.

One Petroleum Ltd, the company that delivered the fuel, on Tuesday said it had withdrawn the product from the Kenyan market.

This followed a directive by the government to the company to immediately withdraw the invoices it had issued.

The government further directed Oil Marketing Companies to neither pay the invoices nor uplift product from the said consignment.

The government maintained that the controversial 60,000-tonne consignment was imported into the country in contravention of the G2G procedures.

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