Eighty Laikipia residents have won a major legal battle after an environmental tribunal cancelled the license of a company dumping cancer-causing asbestos in their village.
The National Environmental Tribunal sitting in Nairobi said asbestos is being phased out in many parts of the world, including Kenya, for health and other reasons.
"Asbestos like any other waste products, hazardous or not, must be disposed of properly. It would be a great injustice and an affront to the environment to allow an asbestos landfill to be operated without following the laws governing the dumping of hazardous wastes,” the tribunal said.
The tribunal chaired by Mohammed Balala directed that the company, Waste Africa Limited, should decommission the landfill within 60 days under the supervision of Nema.
Other members of the tribunal are Christine Kipsang, Bahati Mwamuye, Waithaka Ngaruiya and Kariuki Muigua.
The ruling made on December 5 recently came to light.
The company will pay court costs of the 80 residents.
The ruling of the tribunal arose out of an appeal filed by Hassan Noor Hassan and 79 others. They had sued the director of Nema and Waste Africa Limited.
Hassan had appealed against Nema's decision to grant a license for the propose asbestos landfill.
The villagers wanted the license cancelled and the company stopped from dumping asbestos on a parcel of land in Laikipia-Nanyuki South.
They also sought an order for the company to give an undertaking to residents of Ethi sublocation to attend to any health problems related to dumping asbestos sine 2012.
They asked the tribunal to compel the company to cater for medical examination of residents.
In suit papers the residents accused the company of violating conditions of the license by failing to maintain infrastructure, dig pits deeper than three feet, exposing asbestos to the air where fibres can be inhaled, failing to erect warning warning signage and failing to build a proper drainage system to prevent soil erosion and spread of asbestos.
“…The asbestos dumped on the landfill is not properly covered in polythene, the landfill site is located on a ridge where strong winds are frequent, the asbestos landfill is located in the vicinity of Enaikishomi nursery school attended by approximately 120 children, exposing the children to the health dangers associated with asbestos,” the suit papers read.
They also said company employees were working on the landfill without proper protective equipment, apparently unaware of the dangers posed by asbestos.
However, both the company and Nema denied any wrong doing and violations. They asked the court to dismiss the case by the residents.
Waste Africa Limited had said that the residents do not have any scientific evidence that the manner in which it has disposed of the asbestos had caused any harm to the environment.
It suggested that the hinted that the villagers at one point were incited to vandalise its properties.
The company told the tribunal, however, that it complied with conditions of the license and said its workers had received training on safe handling of asbestos. It said their health was checked and they were covered b company health insurance.
(Edited by V. Graham)
