Saturday, February 3, 2024 – President William Ruto is getting vindicated every day over his claims that Chief Justice Martha Koome’s Judiciary is rotten to the core and full of corrupt cartels out to sabotage the success of his government.
This is after it emerged that the Judiciary is responsible for the Embakasi gas explosion that has painted Ruto’s
government in a negative light.
The Petroleum Institute of East
Africa (PIEA) has put the Judiciary on the spot over a past case involving
owners of the controversial Embakasi gas plant that killed four and left over 300 injured.
The body in charge of the oil
and gas industry in East Africa criticized a Nairobi Court for
offering the owners of the gas plant a lenient ruling despite being found
guilty of running the site illegally.
According to PIEA, in 2020 a
criminal case was filed against the facility owner alongside some of his
clients under criminal case number E3776/2020 at Milimani Law Courts.
"All the accused persons
were found guilty and convicted with a sentence issued on May 18, 2023,"
read part of a statement by PIEA.
PIEA claimed that the court
disregarded an initial ruling that gave the plant holders a mandatory minimum
sentence of 5 years or a penalty of Ksh20 million.
"The learned Magistrate of
Court Number 11 imposed total fines of Ksh500,000 or one-year imprisonment
instead of Ksh20 million or 5 years for the proprietor (first accused),"
noted the East African petroleum body.
It further accused the
magistrate of issuing a lenient ruling to their accomplice. The magistrate was
said to have fined the accomplice Ksh50,000 instead of Ksh10 million or a
5-year jail term.
According to PIEA, the
magistrate even after issuing moderate penalties, continued to release all
vehicles including two Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) tankers together with
the confiscated bulk with a net weight of 4,660 kgs despite the law providing
for mandatory forfeiture.
An LPG tanker, which had been
released by the court according to procedure, was reportedly involved in
the Embakasi tragic incident.
It was further noted that the
illegal gas plant had also been demolished twice on grounds of carrying out
illicit refilling of cylinders belonging to other licensed brand owners.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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