The owner of the Embakasi gas filling plant that exploded on Thursday night killing three people and injuring over 280 others has spoken for the first time.
Addressing the media on Saturday, February 3, Derick Kimathi through his lawyer Wandungi Karathe said his client has not been operating a refilling station but as a motor garage.
The lawyer claimed that the truck that caused the Thursday explosion was trespassing on the premises without Kimathi’s consent.
“Our client had not been operating a gas filling operation on that premises. The premises, for the last few years, has been operating as a garage and until Thursday, it was still operating as a garage. The motor vehicle that caused this incident was trespassing into this property without his knowledge and consent,” Karathe claimed.
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The lawyer noted that his client was not on the run following the incident and has been in touch with the police as investigations continue.
He also noted that Kimathi applied for a license to operate a gas-filling plant in 2023, but was rejected and did not commence the business.
This comes after President William Ruto ordered an administrative action against a host of government operatives in the energy sector regarding the Embakasi explosion.
Speaking in Kakamega the President suggested that the tragedy came about due to the laxity on the side of the officials charged with regularising operational licenses.
“I have instructed the Ministry that those responsible for issuing the license for the plant to operate where it should not, be fired, arrested, and detained today," said Ruto.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has so far suspended four officials over the incident.
The four include; the Director of Environmental Compliance, Acting Deputy Director Compliance, Head of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) section, and Senior Environmental Officer in the EIA section.
