- The dam burst on the May 9, 2018
- The nine accused are out on bond
Image: George Murage
After five years of court battles and blame game, victims of the Solai dam tragedy that left 48 people dead in 2018, now want an out of court settlement.
The state applied to the court to give the victims more time to engage the accused in the case that has been going on at the Naivasha law courts.
The move comes a couple of months after Naivasha Chief Magistrate Nathan Lutta found out that all the nine had a case to answer.
This emerged during the ongoing trial where Perry Manusukh who is a director at Solai Farm and eight others, were charged with 48 counts of manslaughter on the May 8, 2018, and failing to prepare an environmental impact assessment report.
The other eight are Vinoj Jaya Kumar, Johnson Njuguna, Luka Kipyegen, Winnie Muthoni, Jacinta Were, Tomkin Odo Odhiambo, Williec Omondi and Lynette Cheruiyot.
According to State Counsel Gichuhi Gikui, the victims of the tragedy had held a meeting with the accused persons as they sought to resolve the case.
Gichuhi told the court that the victims wanted more time to discuss the issue and seek a lasting solution as part of alternative dispute resolution.
“The victims have held meetings with the accused persons seeking an out of court settlement and they are seeking more time to finalise the issue,” she told the court.
The defence team that is led by Senior Counsel Pravin Bowry welcomed the move saying they did not object to the request by the victims.
In his ruling, the magistrate noted that the case, which had been delayed for over five years, needed to be resolved as soon as possible.
He was quick to note that the matter had reached defence stage warning all parties that the proposed negotiations would not stop the trial process.
He gave the parties until the November 20, when the case resumes.
Earlier, geo-technical expert Mang’ong’o Bwocharo told the court that the cause of the incident was a natural phenomenon and beyond human control.
Mang’ong’o said studies conducted on the dam indicated that there was a massive mudslide that saw huge boulders, soil and run off crash on the dam.
“Field investigations and geological assessment conducted around the dam indicated that the dam failure was caused by a natural phenomenon which was beyond human control,” he said.
Mang’ong’o added that since then, the dam was decommissioned and the water allowed to flow through the original natural watercourse uninterrupted.