Kenyan diaspora energy firm Gitson Energy Limited has won an appeal requesting information on power projects approved in Marsabit County as of December 31, 2021.
The firm had made the request by writing to the Office of the Ombudsman.
In a letter responding to the request, the Access to Information Commissioner Lucy Ndung'u asked the parent ministry in the energy sector to provide the information requested within seven days from the letterâs authoring on October 12.
âHaving carefully considered the request for information by the requester through a letter dated January 11, 2022, regarding all the approved power projects in Marsabit County as of 31 December 2021, the commission opines that the requested information is held by your authority. Under the Access to Information Act, the right of access to information is absolute unless limited by the Act,â Ms Ndung'u noted.
The Ministry of Energy was directed to facilitate access to information on the projects by October 19 or appeal the directive at the High Court by November 3.
The letter does not however disclose reasons behind the disclosure request.
Purchase agreement
While the disclosure of reasons has not been made, Gitson Energy Limited is no stranger to the ministry having taken on the State agency over what it alleged to be discrimination.
In 2018, for instance, the firm protested its omission from the award of a deal to construct the 300-megawatt wind power farm in Marsabit County.
Gitson Energy Limited sued, compelling the courts to order the Ministry of Energy and other energy sector regulators and utilities to allow it to enter a power purchase agreement for the project on the same terms as the Lake Turkana Wind Power.
