Several youths meeting under the auspice of Mt Kenya Youths have urged stakeholders in the petroleum industry not to use the Kiboko oil spill in Makueni as an excuse to fleece Kenya Pipeline Company.
Led by Youth leader Linford Mutembei, the youths said that Kenya Pipeline Company should be given time to procure a leak detector.
The oil spill occurred on 30th March and it was detected after a month.
Yesterday the Senate Select committee on Energy chaired by Nyeri Senator Ephraim Maina gave the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) a week to give a report on the Kiboko incident.
The Senators had summoned (EPRA) director general Pavel Oimeke and acting director Edward Kinyua.
The senators wanted EPRA to explain why it hasn’t investigated the incident and why it hasn’t taken any sanctions against Kenya Pipeline.
Kinyua told the committee that investigations are ongoing to establish the cause of the leak.
On his part, Pavel Oimeke said he was equally surprised that the shs 51 billion pipeline has no leak detector.
Migori Senator Achilo Ayacko accused the two of showing helplessness before the committee.
Last month, Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) warned residents who depend on River Kiboko in Makueni County against drinking water from the river as it is contaminated with petroleum products.
The County Government of Makueni now wants Kenya Pipeline to compensate the residents who have no water and cannot plant any crops on their land.
However, Mutembei called on the Senators and other stakeholders to allow Kenya Pipeline time to fix the mess.
“KPC should be allowed to single source for the oil detection leak. This is an emergency and it needs to be fixed,” he said.
He added that there are some people who know that Kenya Pipeline makes a profit of shs 12-14 billion per year and are out to capitalize on the leak to fleece the parastatal.