President Orders Dismissal Of 4 State Officials
President Orders Dismissal Of 4 State Officials.
President William Ruto has issued an order for the dismissal of state officials allegedly involved in irregularly approving licenses for a gas plant, which led to an explosion on Friday morning. Chief Justice Martha Koome criticizes President Ruto’s Remarks
Speaking on the matter in Lugali on Saturday morning, Ruto attributed the incident to corruption, a lack of integrity, and greed among government officials responsible for granting the license to the plant operator.
The Head of State directed the Ministry of Energy to ensure that individuals implicated in the matter promptly vacate their positions and face charges for the offenses committed.
Expressing his concern, he highlighted that government officials had granted licenses for the operation of the business in a residential area where Kenyan citizens reside, putting their lives at risk.
“I want to say for the avoidance of doubt, the government officials who issued licenses for gas installations in residential areas when it was very clear that it was the wrong thing to do, but because of incompetence and corruption they issued licenses,”
Today we have injuries, we have Kenyans who have died, those fellows who are involved in this, the ministry must immediately take action against them and they must be dismissed and prosecuted for the crimes they have committed.”
The President emphasized that individuals involved in such actions should not continue to hold government office and receive salaries funded by taxpayers.
On Friday evening, the government unveiled plans to crackdown on gas storage and refilling depots across the country, prompted by a fire at a facility in Embakasi earlier that day.
The incident in Mradi area resulted in three fatalities and left over 280 others injured after a gas filling and storage plant caught fire.
In a joint statement, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki and his Energy counterpart Davis Chirchir announced that the government will take decisive action, including demolishing all illegal sites, through the Multi-Agency Rapid Results Initiative.
“The government will apply punitive administrative measures to all Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) operators found filling cylinders without the written authority of the brand owners,” CS Kindiki said.
He announced that the government would oversee a comprehensive risk assessment for all LPG plants nationwide, with the intention of shutting down any sites found to be non-compliant.
The Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations has leveled accusations against the government, asserting that it has not effectively enforced rules and regulations to safeguard the public from potential hazards.
