NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 2 — A Magistrate sitting at the Milimani Law Court freed operators of the illegal gas plant in Embakasi in May 2020 against sentencing guidelines.
Fresh details that emerged on Friday, a day after a tragic explosion at the plant killed three people leaving over 280 others injured, indicated that the operators secured freedom after paying Sh500,000 in fines far below the minimum sentencing threshold.
Oil marketers under the Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA) said the facility’s owner and clients who distributed his product were convicted of criminal offenses on May 18, 2023.
“Following our visit to the site soon after the explosion and early this morning we have established that this is the same site where a criminal case was instituted against the proprietor of this facility and some of his clients under criminal case number E3776/2020 at Milimani law courts in Nairobi,” PIEA General Manager Wanjiku Manyara stated.
Manyara noted in line with the High Court’s guidance that the proprietor’s minimum sentence should have been set at Sh20 million or a jail term of 5 years.
The oil marketers further argued that the co-accused persons should have faced fines of at least Sh10 million with the alternative of serving 5 years in jail.
PIEA also faulted the unnamed court official for authorizing the release of impounded motor vehicles including two LPG tankers one of which was involved in the Thursday night incident.
Even after the court’s verdict on the case, the marketers expressed dismay as the owner resumed his illegal activities at the Embakasi site “located in a densely populated residential area, in violation of the Petroleum Act 2019 and LPG Regulations Legal Notice 100 (LN 100).”
Manyara further revealed that the Embakasi site underwent demolition on two occasions due to the unauthorized refilling of LPG cylinders belonging to other licensed brand owners.
The statement from PIEA aligns with that of the Energy Petroleum and Regulatory (EPRA), which disclosed that the site’s operations were deemed illegal as its owners did not meet the stipulated standards.
“All applications [were] rejected as they did not meet the set criteria for an LPG storage and filling plant in that area.”
Already, a security guard who was stationed at the site is in police custody, and investigations are ongoing to uncover the identities of those involved in operating the outlet.
