A landmark environmental pollution case pitting British Petroleum Plc against 299 petitioners from Kargi, Kalacha and other affected areas of Marsabit County was up for mention on Thusday the Isiolo Environment and Lands Court. The petition by Asumptah Galgitele who is the whistleblower and 298 others alleges that oil exploration work carried out in the 1980s by Amoco Corporation – later acquired by British Petroleum (BP) PLC in 1998 involved the drilling of several dry wells near Kargi and Kalacha in the Chalbi Desert. The petitioners allege that hazardous and radio-active contaminants from those operations were improperly discharged into the environment, contaminating ground water and causing illness and death among hundreds of residents and livestock in the surrounding communities. During today’s mention that was conducted virtually before Justice Joseph Oguttu Mboya, the advocate for the petitioners Kelvin Kubai expressed dismay following a bizarre request by the Foreign Commission and development Office (FCDO) to have the pleadings by the petitioners translated to English before they could be served to the accused company (BP PLC). Kubai noted that all the pleadings by the petitioners were prepared in English, arguing that it beats logic for FCDO to request for a translation from English to English and termed the request as a tactic to further delay the proceedings. He not...
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