Opiyo Wandayi: The man at centre of petrol waiver scandal

As four senior government officials spend a fourth night in cold police cells over a questionable fuel shipment that has thrown Kenya’s petroleum sector into turmoil, documents obtained by The Standard point to an uncomfortable truth: none of it could have happened without the express blessing of Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi.

While the public spotlight has focused on the dramatic arrests and resignations of Principal Secretary Mohamed Liban, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) Director General Daniel Kiptoo, Kenya Pipeline Company Managing Director Joe Sang and ministry official Joseph Wafula, the paper trail leads directly to Wandayi’s desk at Kawi House in South C.

On March 28, just one week before the Directorate of Criminal Investigations launched its probe, the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry, following a request from the Energy ministry, issued a formal waiver for 68,000 metric tons of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) RON 93 aboard the vessel MT Paloma.

The letter, signed by Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui and addressed to Wandayi, states unequivocally: “We refer to the subject matter, the letters from the State Department for Petroleum dated 26th March 2026 and 27th March 2026. Waiver is hereby granted on the oxygenates, manganese, Sulphur and Benzene parameters in the KS EAS 158:2025 – Automotive Gasoline Specifications standard.”

Four critical health and environmental parameters, including sulphur and benzene, both known carcinogens, were waived at the request of Wandayi’s ministry. The cascade of waivers began two days earlier when Liban wrote to Kenya Bureau of Standards Managing Director Esther Ngari, requesting a “temporary waiver on the requirement for Certificate of Conformity (CoC) and some parameters on certificate of quality of refined petroleum products.”

Liban’s letter, bearing reference number MOEP/SDP/CONF/4/12, painted a picture of crisis: “The ongoing conflict in the Gulf Region has affected marine traffic flow, especially those that have to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The International Oil Companies (IOCs)/Suppliers under the Government-to-Government Arrangement through their local counterparties i.e. Nominated Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), must actively source refined products to meet the delivery schedule to ensure security of supply.”

The PS further requested that “attendant penalties of five per cent of CIF or USD 3,500 maximum be waived” and that Kebs approve “on a case-by-case basis” the waiver of affected quality parameters.

But government insiders familiar with the matter now question whether the security of supply argument was genuine or a convenient cover for a deal that enriched private interests at public expense.

“In any functioning ministry, nothing of this magnitude moves without the Cabinet Secretary’s explicit authority. The State Department for Petroleum operates under Wandayi’s docket. Liban is his Principal Secretary. Kiptoo, though heading the semi-autonomous Epra, ultimately answers to the Energy ministry’s policy direction,” says lawyer Peter Wena.

Yet the March 28 waiver letter from the Trade ministry makes clear that Wandayi’s office was not merely copied; it was the primary addressee. The conditions attached to the waiver included “the Ministry of Energy, State Department of Petroleum, to ensure that the next two scheduled PMS consignments are fully compliant with the requirements of KS EAS 158:2025 – Automotive Gasoline Specifications.”

That condition, sourced from the Trade ministry’s letter, acknowledges that the consignment aboard MT Paloma was not compliant and Wandayi’s ministry was put on notice to clean up future shipments, an admission that what was arriving was substandard. The waived parameters are not minor technicalities. Benzene is a Group A carcinogen, while excessive sulphur produces sulphur dioxide emissions linked to respiratory diseases. Manganese, used as an octane booster, can cause neurological damage at high exposure levels.

The waiver documents reveal that even the government recognised the danger. Condition 2 of the letter states: “The PMS onboard MT Paloma is being comingled with the current stock to mitigate excess manganese.”

Clearly, they wanted to dilute the tainted cargo with cleaner fuel already in Kenya’s tanks and hope nobody got hurt.

And crucially, Condition 6 required that “the importer indemnifies Kebs in case of any unexpected happening coming from this waiver.”

The government knew it was rolling the dice with public health and wanted private importers to shoulder none of the liability.

The timing of the waiver raises even more troubling questions. The DCI’s press release dated April 4 confirms that “statements have been recorded from possible witnesses and several persons of interest, including senior government officials and executives of One Petroleum Limited.”

That is the same One Petroleum Limited that, according to Business Registration Service records, is controlled by a complex web of shareholders including Mbaraki Holdings Limited of Mauritius and Kenyan directors Mujtaba Mohamed Jaffer, Ali Abbas Jaffer, Mohamed Husein Jaffer and Ali Salaah Balala.

The same company, investigators suspect, brought in the Angola-origin fuel that bypassed the Government-to-Government deal and cost a premium of $290 per tonne compared to just $84 per tonne under the official arrangement.

During raids on the homes of the arrested officials, detectives recovered over Sh500 million in cash. But in a bizarre twist that has left investigators fuming, sources say the money has vanished from police custody.

A senior politician reportedly ordered the cash brought to him, and detectives were forced to hand it over without any receipt or inventory.

The DCI’s investigation is now actively pursuing “senior government officials” beyond those already arrested. The press release warns that “resignation from office does not in any way exonerate or absolve the suspects and persons of interest from criminal culpability.”

Liban, Sang and Kiptoo have resigned. But Wandayi remains in his post, despite being the political head of the ministry that requested these dangerous waivers.

In a bid to stem the tide of public anger and disbelief at the audacity of the scam, Wandayi yesterday sought to assure the public that the resignations and ongoing investigations into questionable fuel shipments have not destabilised the sector.

In a statement, Wandayi said the government had stopped delivery of a second cargo under suspicious circumstances after full information emerged about the first shipment under investigation.

He further disclosed that invoices for petrol from the MT Paloma, supplied by One Petroleum, showed a landed price of Sh198,855 per metric ton, while the government-to-government cargo from the MT FOS Mercury, supplied by Gulf Energy, landed cheaper at Sh140,111 per metric ton, a difference of Sh43.4 per litre. 

Wandayi dismissed claims of looming shortages, emphasising that sufficient petroleum stocks exist to meet current demand for both Kenya and regional markets.

He reiterated that the G-to-G fuel procurement framework, which has shielded Kenyans from immediate shocks related to Gulf tensions, remains stable and resilient. 

“The Ministry reaffirms that there will be no tolerance for cartels, profiteers, or extortionists seeking to exploit the uncertainty arising from the conflict in the Middle East for personal gain at the expense of the public.”

But Wena says the buck stops with the Cabinet Secretary.

“No PS would dare issue such a directive without clearance from above. If he authorised the waivers, he bears direct responsibility for allowing potentially dangerous fuel into the Kenyan market. If he did not, it means his own Principal Secretary circumvented him, raising questions about his control over his own ministry.”

President William Ruto, who has made anti-corruption a pillar of his administration, accepted the resignations of Liban, Sang and Kipto on Saturday. The Executive Office of the President confirmed that “the relevant investigative agencies will continue with their inquiries to ensure full accountability.” 

But accountability, as Wena notes, must reach the highest levels. Wandayi was the man at the top of the ministry when these waivers were requested.

The buck, as President Harry Truman famously declared with his desk sign, “The buck stops here,” stops with the person who holds the office. For Wandayi, that desk is at Kawi House. Responsibility now rests squarely on his feet.