This archive report was first published on 10 October 2019.
On October 10, 2019, the Court of Appeal in Kisumu made a ruling that allowed Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries Ltd to adduce additional evidence in the shutdown case over alleged pollution.
The ruling was made by Justice Milton Makhandia, who read the verdict on behalf of a three-judge Bench, stating that the decision was taken in the interest of justice.
The additional evidence includes reports from the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) and the Kisumu county assembly committee of water, environment and natural resources.
According to Justice Makhandia, the applicant could not have been reasonably expected to have knowledge of the existence of the Nema report or to have received the report on April 18, 2019.
The county assembly report dated July 2019, signed by majority of committee members, also came up after submissions by the applicants before the trial court.
The additional evidence is expected to be adduced by way of an affidavit and filed as supplementary record of appeal within the next five days.
Kibos Sugar, through lawyer Tom Ojienda, argued that the two reports are critical to their case, stating that the two entities gave Kibos Sugar, Kibos Power and Kibos Distillers factories a clean bill of health and found that they were in compliance with environmental regulations.
