The National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chaired by Hon. John Mbadi has heard how the State Department for Petroleum lost over Kshs.125 million through payment for defective gas cylinders.

A report by the Audit General tabled before the Committee indicated that the Department lost the money through making dubious payments to three firms for the supply of gas cylinders.

The Committee raised a red flag over the suspicious payment, terming the deal by the agency as dubious. Members put the Principal Secretary for Petroleum Mr. Mohamed Liban to task over authorisation of payment of the funds for gas cylinders that did not meet tender specifications.

"The report has pointed at flawed procurement processes that have seen the loss of public funds by the State Departments," said Hon Mbadi.

The Committee was told that the Department contracted four companies to supply 357,355  six kilograms-gas cylinders to be given out to selected families under the Mwananchi Gas Project in the Financial Year 2017/2018.

The project initiated by the then Ministry of Energy and Petroleum in 2016 was intended to promote the use of modern cooking fuel among low-income households.

Selected families were to benefit from gas cylinders, grills, and burners to households at subsidized prices, and National Oil Corporation (NOC) was awarded the tender to implement the project.

However, the Committee was told that implementation of the project faced hitches after 131,926 cylinders were discovered to be faulty. This was according to the report by an independent inspector contracted to inspect the gas cylinder before being given out to users.

The Committee was concerned that the auditor's report indicated that the Department went ahead and paid the money despite the inspection report indicating that the gas cylinders were not fit for use.

Members were informed that efforts have one of the companies supply quality gas cylinders or to recover the money from it was futile as the said firm has been put under receivership because it was in the red.

Hon Mbadi wondered why the Department was putting the lives of beneficiaries of the gas cylinder project at risk by planning to supply them with cylinders that were faulty.

"I wonder why some officers in the Department were not sensitive to the lives of such unsuspecting residents. Why should you expose these Kenyans to dangers by supplying them with faulty gas cylinders?" posed Hon. Mbadi.

The Committee also questioned why the Department did not use the services of the Kenya Bureau of Standard (KBS) to certify the cylinders before payments were made.

In his response, PS Liban stated that the Department appointed an ad-hoc inspection and acceptance committee to conduct an inspection of the gas cylinders and guide on the way forward.

"A total of 62,206 cylinders which were inspected and met the set tender specifications were accepted and paid for by the Ministry," Mr. Liban explained.

He added that "A total of 28,035 cylinders supplied and accepted were distributed to the public in the initial rollout of the project in Kajiado and Machakos Counties".

The PS further noted that the Department has initiated the process of returning the defective cylinders to suppliers for supply of those that met the required tender specifications.