PARIS – Energy prices soared in 2021 – with gas, oil, coal, electricity and car- bon all shooting higher in large part owing to a resur- gence of geopolitical ten- sions between producers and consumers.
The “steep rise in prices was probably the most dra- matic development on the commodities markets in 2021,” noted Commerzbank analyst Barbara Lambrecht.
The most spectacular surge was that of Europe’s reference gas price, Dutch TTF, which hit 187.78 euros per megawatt hour in De- cember – 10 times higher compared with the start of the year.
The spike has been fu- elled by geopolitical ten- sions surrounding Russia, which supplies one third of Europe’s gas.
Western countries ac- cuse Russia of limiting gas deliveries to put pressure on Europe amid tensions over the Ukraine conflict and to push through the controver- sial Nord Stream 2 pipeline set to ship Russian gas to Germany.
Critics say Nord Stream 2 will increase Europe’s de- pendence on Russian gas and Ukraine has described it as a “geopolitical weapon.”
Russian energy giant Gazprom has strongly re- jected Western accusations that Moscow is limiting gas deliveries to Europe, already hit by low stocks as econo- mies reopen from pandemic lockdowns.
Reliance on gas in- creased as calmer weather has reduced the availability of wind power.
Crude oil prices rocketed also in 2021, gaining more than 50 percent as demand recovered and oil producing nations led by the Organisa- tion of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies includ- ing Russia modestly boosted supplies.
It came after OPEC+ drastically slashed output in 2020 as the pandemic began to unfold, and virus-related restrictions caused demand andpricestocrash.–AFP.
REVEAL SECRET ‘TENDERPRENEURS’,
IMF DEMANDS until March 2022
AIROBI – The govern- there was no evidence of bud- ment must reveal the getary approval by relevant au- names of secret own- thorities.
ers of all companies that win State tenders as part of a pro- gramme it has with the In- ternational Monetary Fund (IMF).
This will begin in April 2022 as part of the 38-month programme that is aimed at helping Kenya improve its fi- nances by reducing wastage and corruption, according to the IMF.
By the end of March 2022, the Washington-based insti- tution said, Kenya is expected to “adopt revised standard bid- ding documents to obtain con- sent from beneficial owners to publish beneficial ownership information for awarded ten- ders in the public procurement information portal (PPIP), and start requiring consent for all new tenders.”
Publishing these names, the IMF noted, will “reduce cor- ruption risks by strengthening transparency and enhancing oversight.”
The revelation of all benefi- cial owners of companies that do business with the govern- ment was to start at the end of June 2021 but was delayed
following legal hitches that in- cluded the right to privacy.
Revealing of the names is expected to solve the mystery behind the controversial Sh7.8 billion scandal at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) in which shadowy wheeler-dealers lined their pockets at the expense of a cit- izenry that had been hit hard by the crippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The delay in publishing the rules was due to fear of breach of people’s privacy – an issue that has been solved by requir- ing beneficial owners to give their consent before signing up
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu
for the contract.
In August 2020, Kemsa,
which had been legally tasked with procuring Covid-19 pro- tective equipment, caught the attention of the president after being put on the spot over the looting of Sh7.8 billion.
A report by Auditor Gen- eral Nancy Gathungu on the procurement scandal at Kem- sa revealed that Sh2.3 billion was lost in procuring Covid-19 medical supplies.
Ms Gathungu, who tabled the report before the Senate in September last year, revealed how billions of shillings were unaccounted for and how
The Auditor-General con- cluded that Kemsa irregularly utilised the Universal Health Coverage budget to procure Covid-19-related items worth Sh7.6 billion.
The audit found numerous violations of the Procurement and Public Finance Manage- ment Acts and inefficiencies in the procurement process.
In July 2019, the Attorney General published regulations that required firms to keep a register of beneficial owners, a move that would reveal details of shadowy shareholders in lo- cal firms, including foreigners.
This was yet another at- tempt by the State to combat money laundering, with Ken- ya joining other jurisdictions such as the European Union in tasking firms to reveal person- al details of individual owners with a stake or voting right of at least 10 percent.
The regulation is aimed at unmasking shadowy share- holders who might be engaged in illicit financing or even corrupt practices. – THE STAN- DARD, ‘DROP YOUR EGOS’ …Mwenya urges football administrators to learn to co-exist
