A parliamentary committee now wants individuals involved in awarding a lucrative Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) project — whose penalty has now accumulated to Sh7 billion — to take personal responsibility and pay.

The Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy on Thursday put Ketraco bosses, among them former chief executive officer Fernandes Barasa, who is now Kakamega governor, on the spot over the failed project, saying they should take personal responsibility.

The committee, chaired by Pokot South MP David Pkosing, condemned the loss of billions of shillings, saying that neither the taxpayer nor the government should be made to pay a penny of the said amount.

He said the committee will not allow itself to be used as a conveyor belt for cartels, even as they directed that a committee comprising officials from the ministries of Energy and Treasury, Ketraco, and the Attorney-General — which has since been established to interrogate the matter, including determining the procedure and legality of the 2016 procurement now in question — should do a thorough job.

“This is a weighty matter that cannot be allowed to go on. Someone must be held accountable. We (Parliament) can never be a conveyor belt for cartels. An internal Ketraco committee has already been set up and should also not be another conveyor belt. Tell this committee that before they agree to pay any amount, it should determine the procedures involved in awarding the contract and the legality,” he told Ketraco.

Pkosing made the remarks when Ketraco, led by the chief executive John Mativo, appeared before the committee to respond to audit queries.

The audit queries raised questions on contracts awarded to firms that collapsed before completing multibillion-shilling projects, with the company forced to terminate contracts worth Sh25.6 billion.