Senate summons KPC and NEMA bosses over Thange oil spill in Makueni
The heads of Kenya Pipeline Company and NEMA failed to attend a Senate Energy Committee hearing on Tuesday. Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr told senators that 61 per cent of 229 residents tested had organ or blood abnormalities.
Senators have summoned the heads of the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). Both failed to appear before the Senate Standing Committee on Energy on Tuesday, The Eastleigh Voice reported. The committee is investigating the health effects of the Thange oil spill in Makueni County. It has moved the inquiry to Thursday, November 19, and ordered both agency heads to attend. Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr presented the committee with test results from residents and environmental samples. He said a team led by Dr Cyrus Matheka sampled 10 sites and tested 229 residents. The team found petroleum residue in the soil and water. According to the governor, 61 per cent of those tested had abnormalities in the kidney, liver, bone marrow and blood. Kilonzo said the contamination has spread up to 40 kilometres downstream. About 19,000 people live in the affected area. He added that most people going to hospital in Kibwezi East come from Thange. He warned that the effects could reach future generations, because residents still drink the water and grow crops there. The governor called for criminal accountability. He said people should face prosecution over deaths linked to negligence. Oil distribution is a national function, he argued, so the burden should not fall on the county government. He asked the Ministry of Health to issue an…
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