Date: 2018 – 2019
Transparency and Accountability are key principles of good governance whose significance in the petroleum industry is to provide for:
- Economic development of countries that are heavily dependent on these resources
- Strengthening the principal and agent relationship
- Dissuading corruption and poverty alleviation
- Better management of resource-revenues
- Payment of external debts
- Avoidance of conflicts
- Infrastructure building
With the discovery of oil in 2012 estimated at 560 million barrels which the government estimates to earn $1.2 billion per year from oil exports, there is need for the Government to adopt a Transparency and Accountability Framework to implement good governance practices in the petroleum sector. This is consistent with the Petroleum Act 2019, which requires the Cabinet Secretary to develop a framework for reporting, transparency and accountability in the upstream petroleum sector.
To achieve this, the Government of Kenya through the World Bank funded Kenya Petroleum Technical Assistance Project (KEPTAP), engaged Strathmore Extractives Industry Centre and Extractives Baraza in 2018 to conduct research towards devising a fit-for-purpose Transparency and Accountability (T&A) Framework and Action Plan for Kenya’s petroleum sector, particularly the upstream segment.
The overall objective was to support the Government of Kenya in its commitments towards improving transparency and accountability across the petroleum value chain by proposing an applicable governance structure in line with the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and international best practices.