Maasai land owners in Kajiado and Suswa in Narok county want to be part of a delegation of its leadership to present its grievances to Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for allegedly being shortchanged by Ketraco on the land the company acquired for its way leave.
At the heart of the matter is the low amount of the money the land owners were paid which adds up to about 30pc despite government and treasury approving and releasing billions in compensation scheme that saw land owners in other areas getting paid up to 100pc.
It is said that the board and management of Ketraco on reaching the Maa territory, for reasons known to them, decided to slash drastically to between 25pc and 30pc of the money allocated for each land owner.
Tobiko
It is instructive to note that the size of the land taken for way leave is equal and so it is unclear how Ketraco decided to give varying figures to different people.
Explaining the dilemma of landowners in the hands of Ketraco management and fake promises made by the company on settling the unpaid claims, one of the farmers who asked to remain anonymous narrated how Kajiado East MP Peris Tobiko took them to State House to complain to Uhuru Kenyatta on what he referred to as open bias against the Maasai community even though there are reports that the some people in Mai Mahiu in Naivasha are also demanding same payments.
These latest efforts of the land owners in Kajiado is undoubtedly going to add pressure on the managing director Fedinand Barasa whom many say has been living on the edge as DCI and EACC crack on a number of CEOs under the ministry of Energy, and who are believed to to have been involved in unprecedented corruption.
DCI Kinoti
A few months ago, it is said, the CEO was having a good time in a Nairobi hotel when DCI director George Kinoti was in for a meeting unaware of the existence of the MD in the hotel, but the MD on seeing Kinoti, dashed to the washrooms where he was later found sweating profusely in a state of panic until one of his friends assured him that from the look of the things, Kinoti was on his own errands, and was not even aware that the guy was suffering in the loo.
The leaders and the land owners want the DCI and EACC to look into the matter and have decided to push for the arrest of those behind the scam that has caused loss of hundreds of millions meant for the poor people as the Ketraco high voltage lines continue to pose danger to.
They have also called on MP Tobiko to double her efforts in resolving the matter, as well as lawyer James Orengo who was handling the matter on their behalf, to pick up from where he left.
Kenyans, they said, must be wary now with so many top level professionals being messed up by agreeing to work for government and more importantly, the ministry of Energy which has seen CEOs being hauled to courts on corruption charges.
