Matiang’i Demands Full Disclosure of Kenya’s G-to-G Oil Deal After Museveni Claims

Jubilee Party Deputy Leader Fred Matiang’i has called for the full publication of Kenya’s Government-to-Government (G-to-G) petroleum import agreement, following fresh questions raised by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni over the use of intermediaries in regional fuel supplies.

Matiang’i wants the Government to disclose the agreement, identify the companies involved in the supply chain and explain how intermediaries were selected and paid.

His demand comes days after Museveni said a Kenyan politician, whom he later identified as the late former senator and Cabinet minister Cyrus Jirongo, alerted him in 2019 to the involvement of middlemen in Uganda’s petroleum imports through Kenya.

Museveni said the information prompted him to question his own officials and eventually rethink how Uganda sourced fuel.

The remarks have now turned the spotlight back on Kenya’s own G-to-G petroleum arrangement.

Matiang’i wants the deal made public

In a statement, Matiang’i said Kenyans should be able to examine the agreement and understand how public interests were protected.

“The G2G agreement must be published in full. The role of the middlemen must be disclosed and scrutinized. And the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) must be restored to its proper role in securing supply and helping stabilise our fuel market,” he said.

He added: “When public money is involved, secrecy cannot be the policy. Kenyans deserve to know who benefited, at what cost, and why.”

The call follows Matiang’i’s previous criticism of the arrangement. In April, he said he would not have signed the G-to-G agreement and called for its publication.

Matiang’i has not, however, provided evidence that the Kenyan G-to-G arrangement was fraudulent. His latest demand is centred on disclosure and scrutiny of how the system operates.

What Museveni actually said

Museveni’s comments have generated much of the current debate.

Speaking in Uganda on September 17, the President said he was alerted in 2019 by a Kenyan senator he initially referred to as “Jirongo” about the use of intermediaries in petroleum procurement.

He later identified the politician as Cyrus Jirongo, who died in 2025.

“It was a Kenyan Senator called Jirongo who told me this around 2019. I immediately tasked the then Minister Irene Muloni to sort out that mess,” Museveni said.

Museveni said Uganda had been purchasing petroleum through intermediaries in Kenya rather than obtaining supplies directly.

He said the information prompted Uganda to review the arrangement and move towards direct procurement.

That process eventually contributed to Uganda National Oil Company’s move towards direct fuel imports, although Uganda continues to use Kenya’s Mombasa port and pipeline infrastructure for much of its petroleum supply.

The 2019 conversation is significant, but it should not be confused with Kenya’s current G-to-G framework.

Kenya's G-to-G deal came four years later

Kenya entered its G-to-G petroleum arrangement in March 2023.

Treasury signed Master Framework Agreements with three major international suppliers: Aramco Trading Fujairah FZE, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Global Trading Ltd and Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC).

The Government's stated reason was a severe shortage of US dollars that had made it difficult for oil marketers to pay for petroleum cargoes.

Treasury said the arrangement allowed petroleum suppliers to provide fuel on extended credit terms, reducing the immediate demand for dollars and easing pressure on the foreign exchange market.

The Government has maintained that the arrangement was about securing fuel supplies and managing foreign-exchange pressures, rather than creating a mechanism for undisclosed beneficiaries.

Why local oil companies were involved

Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has offered an explanation for one of the issues now under scrutiny: why private Kenyan oil companies appear in a deal described as government-to-government.

According to Wandayi, the international suppliers appointed licensed Kenyan oil marketing companies to handle local supply and logistics.

The first companies brought into the arrangement included Gulf Energy, Galana Energies and Oryx Energies Kenya.

One Petroleum, Asharami Synergy and BE Energy were subsequently added.

Wandayi said the companies were selected through a vetting process and acted as local counterparties within the supply chain.

That distinction is at the centre of the current debate.

Matiang’i is asking for the agreements and roles to be opened to public scrutiny. The Government, meanwhile, maintains that the private companies were appointed to facilitate local logistics after the international suppliers required licensed local counterparts.

Government defends the arrangement

Wandayi has rejected suggestions that the G-to-G framework was designed as a fraudulent arrangement.

He said Kenya was facing serious foreign-exchange pressure when the framework was introduced, with petroleum accounting for a significant share of the country's import bill.

The Treasury's original 2023 statement similarly said the arrangement was intended to reduce immediate demand for US dollars and help ease exchange-rate volatility.

The Government has also continued to defend the framework in 2026.

In July, Wandayi said the arrangement had helped maintain fuel supplies during periods of disruption in international energy markets.

The unanswered questions

The renewed debate does not by itself establish wrongdoing.

But it does raise questions that can be answered through disclosure of the agreements and related records.

Among them are how local counterparties were selected, what commercial terms governed their involvement, what fees or margins applied, and how the Government monitored the transactions.

Those details matter because the G-to-G arrangement affects a commodity that touches nearly every part of the Kenyan economy, from public transport and agriculture to manufacturing and household costs.

Matiang’i wants the documents released.

The Government says the arrangement was a response to an economic emergency and helped protect fuel supplies and foreign-exchange reserves.

The documents, rather than competing political claims, would provide the clearest basis for examining how the arrangement actually worked.

About the Author

Maureen Onyango is a journalist passionate about storytelling, life coaching and spiritual lessons. She studied at the Kenya Institute of Management and enjoys telling stories that inform, inspire and empower communities.