Kenya Power’s argument in the Sh35.3 million power tokens scam that since the money did not get into its coffers, the customers who allegedly colluded with its crooked staff do not deserve compensation does not wash.
This is a lame excuse and a dereliction of duty and responsibility. The mere admission that its 13 employees colluded with a whopping 3,500 customers to steal the tokens is good justification for the utility to shoulder the loss.
The firm, indeed, miserably failed to institute controls to prevent the internal fraud.
It’s not enough for the firm to argue that it has dealt with the matter internally with the concerned employees either sacked or disciplined.
That is too lenient. Kenya Power must follow up and recover the loot and have the culprits charged in court.
It must also give a public assurance that such a scam will not happen again.
Guilty as the consumers who benefited are, they had no control over how it was done.
That the staff were able to “hack” its system and generate genuine tokens that were sold through third-party vendors is an indictment of the firm’s faulty controls.
It would, therefore, be grossly unfair to punish the consumers. They should not be pilloried for the sins of rogue employees.
Acting CEO Jared Othieno says the consumers paid only Sh1,000 for tokens worth Sh3,000 but ignores the likelihood of them having been tricked by the staff into the fraud.
It is, therefore, only fair that they be compensated. We fully agree with Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula that whatever the staff of this monopoly do is binding on the firm.
The money stolen by the fraudsters must be recovered and internal controls tightened to deter thieving employees, but leave the consumers alone.
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