Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior was unamused at the Senate on Wednesday when three state agencies tasked with a probe on the Solai Dam tragedy appeared before an ad hoc committee of the house.
Officials of the National Construction Authority (NCA), Water Resources Management Authority(WARMA) and the National Environment Management Authority(NEMA) angered the Senate when they appeared to have done so little after the Solai dam accident that left at least 47 people dead.
Two months after the incidence, the regulatory agencies told the committee that they were planning to conduct a forensic audit and comprehensive environmental impact assessment on the dam.
[caption caption="Section of the damages caused by the Solai dam tragedy "]
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This angered Senators Kilonzo and Nairobi's Johnson Sakaja given the magnitude of the incident that killed several people and left hundreds of people homeless.
“You people are behaving as if you came from Addis Ababa and didn’t you come from your offices. You have been taking us in circles for the last one hour...Are you saying there was no inspector to go to Solai Dam between 2016 and after the tragedy? That is the question because this to me appears to be a cover-up of the tragedy,” queried the agitated Senator Kilonzo.
Senator Sakaja, on the other hand, criticised the NEMA officials accusing them of having misplaced their priorities.
“You are using more of your officers to go to discos to arrest DJs while people are dying because of dams and you can say that you have no capacity to take action?” wondered Senator Sakaja.
A stalemate ensued forcing Senator Kilonzo to adjourn the proceedings after the NEMA team admitted that they had not taken action on the dam owners.
The three agencies admitted that they were yet to comply with an improvement notice that required them to do a fresh assessment and submit a report by June 7.
NEMA team led by Enforcement and Compliance Director David Ongare attempted to redeem themselves from the fury at the Senate by stating that they would send a high-powered enforcement and compliance team from Nairobi to go and crack the whip but was quickly dismissed by the Senators.
A preliminary report stated the tragedy could have been averted had the owners reinforced an embankment where cracks emerged.
[caption caption="Senator Mutula Junior "]
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