Environmental activists celebrate as National Environment Tribunal stops Lamu Coal Project, NEMA license revoked

Celebrations as Judiciary stops Sh200 billion Jubilee gov't flagship project

Tony Mukere

June 26, 2019 4:57 PM

The tender was awarded to a company associated with Chris Kirubi

The National Environmental Tribunal (NET) has revoked a license issued by NEMA, okaying the construction of the Sh200 billion Lamu coal power plant.

The revocation of the license had drawn wild celebrations from affected residents and environmental activists who complained that the goal project would destroy Lamu's heritage and destroy the environment.

Opponents of the project from around the world had highly anticipated the hearing on social media - using the hashtag #decoalonize on Twitter.

Katiba Institute

Katiba Institute, representing the residents in Lamu, successfully convinced the tribunal sitting at the Supreme Court that Nema did not carry out public participation in carrying out the Environmental Impact Assessment Study (EIA).

Coal is one of the dirtiest of all fossil fuels that has become the subject of a global campaign to abandon it in favour of cleaner sources of energy.

The Lamu Coal project, a flagship project of the Jubilee government, now hangs in the balance as it has run into numerous legal troubles since it was started in 2015.

The contract for the construction of the plant was awarded to Amu Power Company, a consortium of Gulf Energy and Chris Kirubi's Centum Investment.

NET is a judicial tribunal that handles disputes arising from decisions of the National Environment Management Authority on issuance, denial or revocation of licenses.

Tony Mukere