Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna….Photo /courtesy
By IP Reporter
NAIROBI, Kenya
Nairobi Sen. Edwin Sifuna has urged Kenyans to urgently submit their views to Parliament on the proposed Turkana Oil Field Development Plan (FDP), warning that the deal represents what he termed President William Ruto’s “biggest scandal yet.”
In a statement reacting to the Senate’s public participation notice on the South Lokichar Basin oil project, Sifuna said the proposed agreement raises serious red flags around ownership, contract variations and public benefit.
Sifuna questioned the identity of the company set to produce the oil, noting that Gulf Energy — formerly Tullow Oil — changed names and ownership several times within weeks, and in some instances days.
Such rapid changes, he said, are often indicative of attempts to conceal the true beneficial owners.
He added that it was “telling” that the current FDP received government approval just days after the final ownership changes.
The senator further faulted repeated variations to the original production sharing contract, highlighting a key amendment made on Nov. 25, 2025.
The change raised the maximum recoverable cost for petroleum production from 55% to 85%, a move Sifuna said would drastically reduce revenues available to the Kenyan public.
On the same date, Clause 27(2)(b) was amended to significantly expand the definition of capital expenditure to include labor, fuel, maintenance, repairs, hauling, supplies and even decommissioning costs.
According to Sifuna, this effectively allows nearly all expenses to be recovered before the State earns meaningful returns.
He also warned that despite the Senate having passed a Local Content Bill requiring oil companies to prioritize Kenyan labor and supplies, the current agreement appears to exempt Gulf Energy from complying with the law.
“We don’t have leaders,” Sifuna said. “We have dealers in government who care about nothing other than themselves.”
The Senate’s Standing Committee on Energy has invited written memoranda from the public as it considers the FDP and production sharing contracts for Blocks T6 and T7 in Turkana County.
