Edwin Sifuna raises alarm over ‘Ruto’s’ oil scandal

Fresh controversy has erupted around Kenya’s long-awaited Turkana oil project after Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna launched a scathing attack on the production arrangements currently under review by Parliament.

Sifuna has warned that the country may be on the brink of losing billions in potential revenue through what he described as a carefully engineered corporate and contractual maze.

In a strongly worded public statement on December 29, Sifuna has urged Kenyans to pay close attention to the Final Development Plan (FDP) for the Turkana oil fields, arguing that what is being presented as a breakthrough for the country could in fact be one of the most damaging deals ever sanctioned by the State.

“This is not just another government transaction. This is President Ruto’s biggest scandal yet,” Sifuna said, accusing the Kenya Kwanza administration of presiding over a deal structured in a way that systematically weakens Kenya’s claim to the benefits of its own natural resources.

At the centre of the senator’s concerns is the company slated to produce the oil, now known as Gulf Energy, formerly Tullow Oil. 

Sifuna revealed that the company underwent a flurry of ownership and name changes within a very short period, in some cases within days, shortly before the government approved the current FDP.

According to Sifuna, such rapid and repeated changes in ownership are not accidental. He said legal experts regard this pattern as a classic red flag, often used to obscure the identity of the true beneficiaries behind major commercial ventures.

“What is telling is that the current Final Development Plan was approved just days after the last round of these ownership changes,” he noted. “That timing alone should trouble anyone who cares about transparency and accountability.”

Beyond the ownership questions, Sifuna pointed to sweeping alterations to the original production contract, which he said had been amended numerous times to the detriment of the Kenyan people. 

The most consequential change, he said, was made on November 25, 2025, again, barely days after the final ownership restructuring.

On that date, the maximum recoverable cost for petroleum production was raised dramatically from 55 per cent to 85 per cent. In practical terms, this means that the company can now claim up to 85 per cent of production as cost recovery before any profits are shared with the government, he argued.

Sifuna warned that such a structure leaves little room for Kenyans to benefit meaningfully from their oil. 

“With that kind of cost recovery window, we are essentially giving away our oil,” he said. “Kenyans may never see any real returns.”

The same amendment also expanded the definition of capital expenditure to include a broad range of operating costs including labour, fuel, repairs, maintenance, hauling, mobilisation, supplies, materials and even decommissioning expenses. 

Sifuna argued that by categorising these routine and ongoing costs as capital expenditure, the company can continue to offset them against production for years, further delaying or eroding any revenue due to the State.

“We may basically never see a coin from our oil,” he warned.

Perhaps most controversially, Sifuna accused the government of deliberately exempting the Turkana oil project from the Local Content law passed by the Senate. 

The legislation was designed to ensure that extractive industries prioritise Kenyan labour, services and supplies, thereby stimulating local economies and building domestic capacity.

Instead, Sifuna said, the current agreement with Gulf Energy has been structured in a way that shields the company from these obligations, opening the door to foreign suppliers and workers while sidelining local communities that have waited decades to benefit from the resource beneath their land.

“This was supposed to be about empowering our people. Now it looks like we have created an escape route for the company to ignore our own laws,” he said.

The senator’s remarks add a new layer of tension to the already sensitive Turkana oil project, which has long been viewed as a potential game-changer for Kenya’s economy. 

As Parliament invites public submissions on the FDP, Sifuna has called on Kenyans, civil society groups and lawmakers to scrutinise the agreement line by line, warning that decisions made now will determine whether Turkana oil becomes a national blessing or a generational betrayal.

“We don’t have leaders. We have dealers in government who don’t care about anything other than themselves,” he warned.