Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana is contemplating taking the government and Kenya Pipeline Corporation to the International Court of Justice at The Hague over oil spillage in the county.
Speaking to citizens at Kiboko town in Kibwezi west sub-county, the governor revealed that the oil spillage had gone on for more than one and a half years.
He further revealed that it was affecting the lives of the Makueni people since it infects the water resources and that the national government continuously lay the blame to the county.
"Usifanye shida alafu unaambia county government iwe responsible. Juzi imesemekana hata huko Thange hatukuambiwa hiyo mafuta ilikuwa Kiasi gani. (Don't cause trouble and then tell the county that it is responsible. Recently in Thange, we were not told the amount of the oil that spilled.)
"I think sometimes tunadharauliwa na ile serikali kubwa especially (we are despised by the national government) through these parastatals. Hii ni kitu hata tunakusanyika tunasema tunaipeleka korti ya ulaya, (We have come together and we shall take this to the international court) because we don't get solutions in Kenyan courts," he told the congregation.
The seemingly agitated governor further revealed that the spillage contaminates water that is likely to cause cancer to humans and when they pass on, their death is blamed on other factors such as diseases or witchcraft.
"It has been a problem for one and a half years. Watu wanaanza kufa alafu tukiwazika tunasema ni ukimwi kumbe si ukimwi, ni oil. Na unapata cancer baadaye unakufa na wengine wanasema ni uchawi," he continued.
(People die and we blame it on diseases like HIV when its oil spillage instead. When you get cancer and die, people blame it on witchcraft)
He further asked the government to step up and compensate the residents for all the time the oil spillage affected their produce or made them shun from agriculture altogether.
Speaking exclusively to Kenyans.co.ke, a communication officer from Makueni County insinuated that workers may have been selling gallons of oil illegally and initiating leakages in the county to claim that it went to waste.
The spilled oil is feared to have infiltrated into Kiboko river, the major source of water to area residents which, besides domestic uses, is used for medium-scale horticulture and aquafarming.
Although the spillage was discovered on March 30th,2019, it is feared that this might have started immediately after laying of the 450KM Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline late last year.
Acting KPC Managing Director Hudson Andambi pointed a weakness in the pipeline that might have been caused by a large boulder hitting it during backfilling of the pipeline trench, which, over time, developed into a crack letting out thousands of gallons of oil.
Those not entirely convinced by this theory, however, believe that the leakage could also have resulted from a malicious puncturing of the pipeline by vandals intending to siphon oil from the line.
