While the majority of Kenyans work so hard to make ends meet, a few crooked people are always snooping around and cheating their way into lucrative deals. Some well-connected people run the cartels that manipulate systems for their individual gain.

Questions are being raised, for example, about how some tycoons secured a Sh15 billion rice imports deal. The Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) initiated the procurement after the High Court allowed it to import 250,000 tonnes of Grade One white rice by October 31. Barely a year after an imports scandal saw the KNTC chief executive officer sacked, the agency has hired four firms to ship in the rice under unclear circumstances. But it has ended up elbowing out 16 companies that had been initially contracted.

And to make it even better for the four select firms, import duty will be waived for this annual ritual to plug a rice deficit of nearly 800,000 tonnes. This one is attracting controversy, as the four firms were not among the 60 that the State corporation was to pick from. As a result, the KNTC risks paying millions to the firms that have been left out, should they sue and win.

Last year, a KNTC imports scheme saw the former CEO and other officials charged with violating procurement laws after investigations revealed that contracts had been awarded to some politically connected individuals. The cases against the others were dropped, leaving only the former CEO in the dock, but that single episode of the KNTC’s procurement mess was funded by a Sh24 billion loan.

In the interest of transparency and accountability, the KNTC must make a full disclosure, explaining why it awarded firms that never applied for the tenders. What is raising eyebrows is the revoking of the tenders of the companies that had been competitively picked. Interestingly, the fresh storm brewing in the KNTC rice imports echoes the familiar tales of secrecy, sidelined bidders, and lobbying to benefit a select few.