Kajiado County Governor David Nkedianye has denied interfering with an Incinerator company established in his County three years ago.
The governor appeared in court in person after being summoned to show cause why he should not be committed to civil jail for disobeying court orders.
Nkedianye told high court Judge Justice George Odunga that he received a call on January 26th 2017 informing him that there were a lot people outside the company who were threatening to break in and destroy it due to the foul smell that it was emitting.
He added that he dropped everything he was doing and went to the area which was crowded by both young and old people from the vicinity.
“The crowd was threatening to break in if the place was not shut down and it took me about an hour to calm them down,” the governor told the court.
Nkedianye added that after calming the crowd, he went inside to talk to the proprietor University don Professor Phillip Mwabe who was aware of what was happening outside.
“I asked Mwabe to suspend the operations of the company so as to pacify the crowd, we talked for about two hours,” he said.
The Governor added that the proprietor wanted have it in writing and he therefore scribbled something on a piece of paper which I wrote under tense atmosphere.
I am not aware of any court orders
Nkedianye further told the court that he is not aware of any previous court orders in place issued in the year 2014.
“I am not aware of any court orders apart from the one that required me to appear in court today,” said Nkedianye.
The governor also added that he did not order any goons to burn down the facility as alleged. He said that he only proposed that the incinerator be closed down only to allow investigations between the parties.
He further said that the residents have been complaining over the foul smell it emits and therefore fear for their health.
“I didn’t mobilize anybody to burn down the facility,” said Nkedianye.
He added that on January 27th 2017, Mwabe, NEMA and himself held a discussions to see how they could get an amicable solution to the problem.
The Environment and Commercial Consultancy Company -incinerator was established three years ago in Athi River near Kitengela town on a 50 acre piece of land.
The incinerator is the largest private waste management facility in East Africa, but the owner has had issues with Kitengela town residents for several years before he moved it to Stony Athi in Kaputie North ward.
Three years ago, residents of Embukabat destroyed a fence and accused Mwabe of putting their lives in danger.
The matter will be mentioned July 27th 2017.
