•Governor says he will bring down Sh200m dyke wall on the banks of river Kisamis
•Tata Chemicals warns Lenku that he would be breaking the law
Image: KURGAT MARINDANY
Kajiado Governor Joseph ole Lenku has called for the arrest and prosecution of former Kenya Airways boss Titus Naikuni for allegedly misadvising Tata Chemicals to divert a seasonal river.
Lenku also recommended the arrest of Tata Chemicals top managers for working with Naikuni to divert Kisamis seasonal river 100km from their concessional land in Mosiro ward.
“This impunity is set to destroy livelihoods of thousands of marginalised Mosiro ward residents in Kajiado West subcounty,” Lenku said on Thursday evening in Rombo, Kajiado South.
He termed the diversion an attack on “our people’s dignity.” The Sh200 million project is funded by the multinational soda ash mining company.
But Naikuni, in a rejoinder on Friday, told Lenku to make good his arrest threat. He warned him that any further insults and threats would force him to seek legal redress.
“Why is Lenku always jittery about me whenever he has beef with Tata Chemicals Company?” Naikuni said.
Walker Kontos and Company Advocates, acting for Tata Chemicals, wrote to Lenku in his capacity as governor and individually explaining how the Mosiro community was involved in talks before the decision to divert Kisamis river from flowing into Lake Magadi.
The law firm, in a March 12 letter, told Lenku the decision to divert the river is to reduce the amount of silt it deposits into Lake Magadi.
“Lake Magadi is the source of the company’s raw materials. To enable TCML to better carry out its mining activities, inter alia, the company spent Sh200 million to develop a diversion of Kisamis seasonal river and in the construction of the dyke wall in an effort to protect the lake from siltation,” the letter says.
It says one of the intended consequences of the works was to ensure the surrounding communities benefited from clean and irrigation water.
The letter was written after Lenku sent engineers led by county roads department chief officer Ezekiel Sampao to the banks of Kisamis river in Mosiro on Tuesday. Also present was area MCA Peter Tirishe.
Tirishe confirmed the visit with engineers whom Tata suspected planned to bring down the wall.
On Thursday, the mining company's fears were confirmed when Lenku spoke in Kajiado South against the construction of the dykes.
The governor said the MCA, like the people of Mosiro, is concerned about the “illegal” construction of the dykes.
When the Star asked Tirishe why he and the people of Mosiro initially okayed the diversion, he said the decision was reached after the company pledged to extend its corporate social responsibility to the area.
Tata's lawyers told Lenku: “Take note that your threatened action of re-diverting Kisamis seasonal river to its original course would be illegal as it will re-introduce siltation to the lake.”
They further said the re-diversion would place the Suswa/Lake Magadi ecosystem under ecological threat and also destroy soda ash in the lake.
“Your threatened action will amount to an act of sabotage on the operations of Magadi mining company as there would not be any soda ash to be mined.”
The lawyers cited several court injunctions served to the county government by the High Court stopping it from interfering with the operations of Tata Chemicals.
Lenku and TCML have been at loggerheads over alleged unpaid rates and levies amounting to more than Sh17 billion.