Workers clean up Thange River in Kibwezi East, Makueni County on August 11, 2016 following an oil spill.
The Environment and Lands Court sitting in Makueni County on Friday slapped the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) with a Sh3.8 billion bill to compensate 3,000 residents affected by a 2015 oil spill into River Thange.
The three-judge bench awarded Sh2.9 billion to the 3,075 residents of Thange whose lives and livelihoods the court said had been affected in the last decade. The residents are said to have suffered from various ailments after the environmental disaster, including liver and kidney complications.
Justices Christine Ochieng, Theresa Murigi and Annete Nyukuri also ordered KPC to provide Sh900 million to the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) to restore the oil-polluted River Thange basin.
The judges agreed with the petitioners that KPC and Nema had violated their constitutional rights to a safe and clean environment, life, dignity and access to information after the 2015 oil spill, which affected water sources.
To arrive at the verdict, the judges considered witness accounts of the petitioners, responses by KPC and Nema and the rulings on other cases on environmental pollution across the world.
KPC blames the oil spill on a corroded pipeline, which passes through the affected region. In a major indictment on KPC and Nema, the judges revealed that Thange residents had reported signs of heavy corrosion on the Mombasa-Nairobi oil pipeline five years before the oil spillage was reported. However, they said, the State corporation and the environmental watchdog did nothing to forestall the impending environmental disaster.
“The respondents have breached their constitutional obligations in respect to safeguarding the environment,” the three judges said.
The judges indicated that taxpayers may have lost Sh38 million, which KPC managing director Joe Sang said it has already distributed as compensation to some 342 households affected by the 2015 oil spillage.
They ruled that the discharge vouchers which KPC had used to process the compensation were invalid after establishing that the State agency had not divulged sufficient information to the affected communities to facilitate them in filling the vouchers.
“The discharge vouchers signed by the petitioners for crops and livestock are unconstitutional, null and void and hereby set aside. The first respondent is hereby ordered to pay the petitioners Sh3,800,831,676 in assorted damages. The above sum shall be paid within 120 days of this judgment. Each party should bear its own cost of the petition,” Justice Ochieng, the presiding judge, told a courtroom that was jammed by the petitioners.
The money awarded by the court includes Sh900 million, which the judges ordered KPC to pay Nema to facilitate the restoration of the Thange River basin, and Sh2,250,000 for compensating 15 people proven to have succumbed from liver and kidney complications, which are linked to oil poisoning by the time of filing the petition in 2019.
“Liability against the first and second respondents is apportioned in the ratio of 80:20, respectively,” the three judges ruled.
The Environment and Lands Court directed KPC to restore the environment polluted by the spilled oil within the next four months.
“An environmental restoration order is hereby issued requiring the first respondent to restore the petitioners’ damaged land, soil, surface and underground water, the environment (biota and fauna) and the entire Thange basin riparian habitat to its original status and to the satisfaction of this court within 120 days from the date of this judgement and file a report in court,” the three judges said.
Outside the courtroom, the petitioners broke into song and dance after the three-bench ruling. “After a long wait, justice has been delivered,” the lead petitioner, Muindi Kimeu, said.
“This is a major victory for the people of Thange, the country and the environment. It is a strong statement against those who pollute the environment,” said Kamau Muthanwa, a lawyer for the petitioners.
Makueni Senator Daniel Maanzo, who sat through the court, said the ruling had restored hope for justice for another batch of Thange residents who have petitioned KPC through him.
The three judges’ ruling marked a major win in the Thange oil spillage disaster, which shed light on handling hazardous substances.
Nema has already ordered KPC to go back to clean the oil mess following sustained pressure from local leaders and the Senate Energy Committee, which visited the polluted region a month ago.
In the restoration order which the Nation has seen, Nema has ordered KPC to fence off the affected region and to provide residents with a steady supply of clean water and foodstuffs.
