Opposition leader Raila Odinga could yet again have a weapon against Deputy President William Ruto in the ongoing fight against corruption following the release of Kimwarer and Arror dams construction report.
So divisive has been the project that Henry Rotich lost his job at the treasury and a number of civil servants. They were accused of releasing Sh21 billion for construction of the two dams without due process.
While Dr Ruto insisted no money had lost, Mr Odinga, who visited Elgeyo-Marakwet County in July, maintained that the cost of construction had been exaggerated.
“It has now been allocated Sh63 billion and Sh21 billion has been lost yet no work has been done,” he said.
And a technical committee constituted by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday released a damning report, which confirmed that cost construction of the two dams was grossly exaggerated.
The Sh 22.2 billion Kimwarer Dam was found to have been overpriced and that the project is neither technically nor financially viable.
The committee under Prof Paul Maringa established that no current reliable feasibility study had been conducted on the dam project.
"The president has ordered for immediate cancelation of the Kimwarer Dam project which was found to be technically and financially not feasible by the Technical Committee," Kanze Dena said.
However, after a detailed technical review, the Technical Committee was satisfied that the Arror Multipurpose Dam Project is economically viable but noted that it was overpriced.
The optimized dam will be technically viable since it will only require about 250 acres of land and cost Sh15.4 billion with power and Sh13.1 billion without power. The dam was previously estimated to cost Sh28.3 billion.
"The President orders for immediate commencement of the implementation of the Arror Multipurpose Dam project with the new design components and cost rationalization plan as developed by the Technical Committee," added Ms Dena.
The over pricing had been opposed by DP William Ruto, who accused Mr Odinga of politicizing construction of the two dams. Earlier, Ruto had also insisted that no money was lost.
And the new development is likely to elicit sharp political divisions among the teams supporting Uhuru and Raila, with the one backing Dr Ruto in coming days.