The Turkwell Gorge Hydro Electric Dam Project ground-breaking quietly happened in 1986 and amid lots of controversy was finally finished by French organization Spie Batignolles in 1991.
The development of the dam is one of the biggest scandals in Kenya's energy sector. Experts warned early that there was not enough water in the seasonal rivers in the area to sustain the project and that trying to "force through" the project would result in serious environmental issues over time, including degradation.
But powerful characters in Moi's government soldiered on with big pay offs in mind and nothing else.
In the end there were numerous cases of over-charging, no natural appraisals or feasibility studies that made any sense. And instead of an open tender as is required by Kenyan law, Nicholas Biwott and George Saitoti handpicked a French company to complete the project.
It was widely rumoured that the two cabinet ministers made a fortune from a project that continues to cost the tax payer a lot of money just to keep running.
Turkwel gorge was financed using commercial loans, a very convenient, purpose-built vehicle for kickbacks and blackmail in event of default by the host country.
A report by the Norwegian Aid Development further revealed that the dam was built on a major earthquake fault line and was expected to silt up in about 50 years.
