from Judy Miriga

from Judy Miriga

Folks,

The reality of the matter concerning Oil Industry Company enterprising is that, it has a history of closely association networking…..of Multibillion dollar oil operators….

All over the world, they ran their Government crazy through their demands of enjoying in the Government Subsidies, paying no taxes, but despite the huge sale of oil all over the world, they argue that the reason Oil Manufacturers are not paying any Revenue Taxes is because they create employment opportunities to employ more workers, that they need motivational booster from the Government so they can do oil exploration and be able to produce more oil in the market and so the cost of doing business is flexible for investors.

All these statements are not true and cannot be justified……These are the under-table behind the scene MoUs that are not of Public Interest but a Rip-Off…..with Fake rising costs in Fuel makes it a double profit to the Oil Industry CEOs and their Companies.

In most case scenario in the world and specifically Kenya’s situation, the investors pay off to grease pockets of negotiating politicians hand-outs to remove Policy Regulatory measures with lifting of other social welfare requirements, so the Oil Manufactures would have a free enterprising business away from taking responsibilities from environmental, Health Hazards and avoid commitments to meeting public mandate in Local Partnership engagement of Social community programs ………and instead, the Oil Industry Management heavily and corruptly pay off funds to politicians on monthly or yearly basis to campaign or lobby for their special interests.

This shows how much Tax Revenue is not collected from the Inventors’ to be posted into the Government Finance Account to benefit Public Mandate, Social Welfare Community’s Program Agenda.

Consequently, Oil Industry Investors Industrial sector is not dependent on any Legal Policy Regulatory system, but enjoys huge capital sums of money from overburdening Tax Payers money from Free Tax levy subsidy, but receives free collateral Government Bonuses and Loans without interest charged.

These Oil Industrial Investors get natural gas and petrol free from public resources, at which they make huge profits in Billions of Dollars, which in real case, they should not be taking ownership of Public National Resources without contributing to the Development Agenda of the Local Social Community program agenda and without opening for local community employment ……so to Balance……..in the Give and Take.

Cost of fuel, food and basic needs going up is part of the secondary corruption scandal in public rip-off……..This is a serious crime on the people public that must be clearly be condemned by all and the idea of Free enterprising must stop ….. Because, it is the “Intellectual Property Thieving” from Public Natural Resource Rights…..

A Government that practices good Democratic Governance will have its priorities right and the Potential Indicators for Regional development cannot fail to be noticed, the effect will fizzle down and the effects felt by the local Community grassroots through employment and the engagement and popular participation activities are noticed in the Community Social Welfare programs……. and as a matter of fact, the Case Scenario do provide a balance and therefore, poverty should not be an excuse….

Thanks,

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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National Oil to Open 22 Stations in Price Wars
Mwaniki Wahome
14 May 2011

Nairobi — With the oil shortages of two weeks ago fresh in the public minds, National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock) has started an ambitious expansion of its petrol stations to boost its market share.

Under the Kanga project, the government-owned oil company expects to open 22 new mini fuel stations across the country by December this year.

The first of the stations was opened on Wednesday last week at Nairobi’s Industrial area.
Chairman Peter Munga said the stations were part of a wider plan the company expects will help it lift its market share from seven per cent to 10 per cent by the beginning of next year.

Nock is the sixth largest in a market dominated by multinationals who take up 70 per cent. This has not enabled it to play its role of stabilising the country’s oil prices effectively.

The mini stations will each cost Sh30 million compared to over Sh90 million that it would take to put up a fully-fledged service station.

The stations will concentrate on the primary functions of refuelling and selling lubricants and cooking gas.

“The Kanga project is within the five year development plan by the firm to increase its presence in the country to be able to play its role of stabilising the oil prices,” said Nock managing director Sumayya Athmani.

Mr Munga said the plan involves spreading the branches across the counties as the decentralisation of government services envisaged in the new Constitution gathers steam.
“Nock underwent a period of stagnation until 2005. We have increased the service stations from six to 70 stations and increased our market share from one per cent to seven per cent in the last five years.

“The mini stations will be replicated along the highways and only have bigger stations with service bays at the counties,” said Mr Munga.

Fuel crisis

Nock’s role has increasingly come under focus in the last few weeks following a four-day fuel shortage that threatened to put the country on the verge of fuel crisis two weeks ago.
Mr Munga said the corporation will seek partnership with small investors close to the mini stations who will offer other vehicle-related services.

A fully-fledged service station has service bays, mini-supermarkets and restaurants which raises the cost of putting it up. Mr Munga said the new plan is based on the fact that most drivers wanted to refuel their vehicles.

Nock intends to increase its retail service stations to 165 by 2014. The company also intends to build an additional storage facility in Konza to store more fuel.

A floating jetty is also to be established so that larger vessels can offload oil in the high seas and which will also be connected to the mainland through a pipeline to increase offloading speed.

The company currently depends on other firms which limits the amount of fuel it can stock, rendering it irrelevant in influencing market prices, especially when crude prices are low.

A source familiar with the issue but who requested not to be named said Nock can effectively play its role by stocking fuel when international prices are low and release it to the market when they rise.

The government formed Nock in 1981 to control rising pump prices following the Iran-Iraq war which led to the global oil shock.

It was expected to supply 30 per cent of the country’s needs and hence influence pump prices. However, its limited retail presence prevented it from competing with multinationals.

Liberalisation of the petroleum industry in the 1990s opened the door to local independents but the pump prices have not gone down significantly due to the control of branded marketers.

Sh14.6m budget trail unveiled

Published on 12/05/2011

By Wahome Thuku

Former Education PS Karega Mutahi has confirmed that he approved expenditure of Sh14.6 million, part of which is now the subject of several corruption cases.

Prof Mutahi, now Environment PS, told a Nairobi court that he approved a budget of Sh14,608,800 to be used in sensitising teachers on double-shift programme initiated by the Education ministry.

Mutahi was testifying before Senior Principal Magistrate Lucy Nyambura against four senior education officers charged with conspiring to fraudulently acquire more than Sh5.3 million from the ministry.

The suspects are former acting Director of Education Concilia Ondiek, senior officers Christine Chacha, Thomas Omuga, Francis Owuor and Fred Ochanda.

Ms Ondiek and Ms Chacha face additional charges of fraudulently acquiring part of the money through using fake accounting documents and false accounting. The offences were allegedly committed in May and June 2009, at the ministry’s Jogoo House headquarters in Nairobi and in Nyanza Province.

Scandals

The five are among several senior education officers on trial in connection to various scandals in the ministry unearthed in the past three years.

There was a light moment in court when an accountant, Elius Macharia, narrated how he gave Sh3,334,000 in cash to Ms Chacha for the programme.

He said the money had come from the bank in new Sh1,000 notes wrapped in bundles of Sh1 million each. He handed the cash to her at the accounts office, the court heard.

Pressed by lawyers to explain how Chacha carried such a huge amount of cash, Macharia replied: “Once I gave her the money my work was over. She can explain how she carried it,” he said. The magistrate then asked, “Is a bundle of Sh1 million so large that one can not carry?” And defence lawyer Chacha Muita responded, “I have never seen it your honour.”

Macharia said the accused counted the Sh334,000 as the other bundles were intact. Asked if he was sure the money was Sh3 million, he said the accused would have complained if it was not. He, however, could not recall what time he gave her the money.

In his evidence, Prof Mutahi said he approved the Sh14.6 million budget on May 4, 2009. Ms Ondiek had prepared the memo accompanying the budget. The money was to be used for organising workshops for secondary school heads and teachers from selected areas held in May 2009.

The double-shift programme was targeting schools in poor urban areas. It was to initiate learning in morning and afternoon shifts. Several schools in Kisumu, Eldoret, Nairobi, Kericho, Mombasa and Nyeri had been identified for the programme.

Mutahi said he approved the budged after being assured that the money would go in the hands of senior officers who would be in charge of the programme.

“After approving the budget, a PS does not come into contact with the documents again. The respective directors and their staff handle the implementation and expenditures,” he told the court.

The PS said after an audit by internal auditors cases of authenticity of the accounting documents were raised. He said several officers were suspended and others cleared after repaying the money.

He said he referred the matter to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.

Hearing continues on May 16.

GLOBAL DISRUPTIONS

As if domestic concerns were not enough, policymakers also see plenty of reason for worry when they look around the world.

Europe is mired in a debt crisis that has dragged on for over a year and shows signs of getting worse, with speculation rampant that Greece may have to restructure its debts.
Concerns about the ability of policymakers to get to grips with the crisis are likely to grow after the shock arrest of the IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in New York on the weekend.

Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer said he will plead not guilty to the sexual assault charges and the IMF said it remained operational. But a Greek official said there would now probably be a delay to a European Union/IMF bailout for Athens in which Strauss-Kahn was closely involved.

A crisis of leadership at the Fund would especially worry EU nations, given Strauss-Kahn’s central role in bailouts for Iceland, Hungary, Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
“The chances are the successor won’t be a European, and will want to rebalance the IMF’s priorities away from its massive commitment in Europe,” said Jean Pisani-Ferry, director of the Bruegel economic think-tank.

Euro zone finance ministers will debate Greece’s debt crisis on Monday this week. Before Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, German officials said no decision will be taken until a mission from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF releases findings on the progress of Greece’s reform efforts.

Top officials in both Germany and Greece have adamantly dismissed the possibility that Greece would abandon the euro, despite rumblings among some analysts that such a move might actually help the beleaguered southern European state.

Eurozone inflation is expected to have risen 2.8 percent in the year to April, according to a report due on Monday that should keep pressure on the European Central Bank to continue a push toward higher interest rates that began last month.

In earthquake- and tsunami-stricken Japan, monetary authorities have already said the economy is probably in recession, depriving world growth of yet another key engine at a time when some fear a renewed global industrial slowdown.

China, for its part, is making a concerted effort to restrain inflation after years of super-charged economic growth, leaving investors on constant watch for the next possible tightening in the form of higher reserve requirements.

This combination of negative factors coming from so many corners of the world could begin to dent U.S. manufacturing, which had been a bright spot in the recovery thus far. Two surveys of regional factory activity from the Philadelphia and New York Federal Reserve banks are slated for this week.

Qatar
Al Khaleej Gas phase 2

The second phase of the Al Khaleej Gas Project started up in 2009. This project has the capacity to supply 1.25 billion cubic feet of gas per day to meet Qatar’s growing domestic demand, along with 100 thousand barrels of liquids per day. This is an expansion of Phase 1, which has operated since 2005, and brings the total Al Khaleej Gas Project supply capacity to 2 billion cubic feet per day.
Qatargas 2 Trains 4 and 5
Qatargas 2 Trains 4 and 5 (ExxonMobil interest, 30 percent and 18 percent, respectively) started up during 2009 and have a combined design capacity of 15.6 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year. The trains also produce condensate, liquefied petroleum gas, helium, and sulfur. Deliveries from Qatargas 2 use a fleet of Q-Flex and Q-Max vessels, the world’s largest LNG carriers. Shipments are delivered primarily to the United Kingdom gas market through the South Hook LNG regasification terminal. Qatargas 2 is a joint development between ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum.
RasGas Train 6
RasGas Train 6 (ExxonMobil interest, 30 percent) also started up in 2009 and is owned by Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company (3), a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil. The train has a design capacity of 7.8 million tonnes per year of LNG, and associated products include condensate, liquefied petroleum gas, helium, and sulfur. Train 6 markets include the United States, and deliveries to the Golden Pass LNG regasification terminal will commence in 2010.