PH
Its seems the ongoing fight on corruption in Kenya is not bearing any fruit at all since the smaller fish are the biggest target yet the big ones are walking free.
A few weeks ago while in Israel President Uhuru Kenyatta admitted that Kenya is the most corrupt country in world and that he has failed to stop the vice.
His sentiment were echoed by former president Moi,who noted that corruption has taken over the entire country and something urgent needs to be done.
The bad image has now cost the country the burden of constructing a crude pipeline since Uganda and Tanzania have both backed out on the proposed crude oil pipeline construction at the Coast, Kenya is being faced by a burdensome job of constructing the pipeline alone.
Uganda and Tanzania agreed to build a similar facility at Tanga port while South Sudan is thinking of an alternative route via Ethiopia to Djibouti instead of South Lokichar in northern Kenya through Isiolo to Lamu on the Indian Ocean.
Kenya has so far discovered 600 million barrels of crude oil in South Lokichar while Uganda has found 6.5 billion barrels of oil. A joint pipeline was to be developed from Hoima in western Uganda through Lokichar to Kenya’s Coast to enable the two countries commence in the export of oil.
This initiative would have fed on the vast resource from the famous Jonglei state in South Sudan, industry analysts place it at double the combined off take from Kenya and Uganda hence increasing its viability.
“The Lokichar-Lamu pipeline would still be viable with South Sudan on board or if more exploitable reservoirs were discovered in Northern Kenya,” said Patrick Obath, the managing consultant of Eduardo Associates, a sector analyst.
The competitor projects have complained of fears of over-investment in this industry of oil transport infrastructure given the limited nature of the discovery, despite hopes that continuing explorations will give in more.
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni’s made the announcement to build the southern route pipeline from Hoima in the Albertine basin through northern Tanzania to Tanga port of the agreement during the East African Community Heads of States Summit held in Arusha
“We did not receive any communiqué from either Tanzania or Uganda. Kenya and Uganda have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to construct the Northern Corridor route pipeline after doing away with the central crude oil pipeline from Hoima through Kampala to Mombasa port,” said senior government officials from Kenya’s side.
