The energy regulator is pushing for a dedicated team of State prosecutors to handle crimes in the sector as it moves to tighten the noose on suspects involved in various offences in the industry.
Energy and Petroleum Authority (Epra) Director General, Daniel Kiptoo, last month wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) asking for five officers to be seconded to Epra.
Mr Kiptoo said suspects in the energy sector have had an easy way in courts due to a lack of prosecutors dedicated to the segment.
The letter came weeks after three people were killed and scores of others injured in a gas explosion in an illegal refilling facility in Nairobi’s Embakasi area.
Crimes involving petroleum products such as illegal refilling of cooking gas and siphoning of fuel have led to deaths and massive destruction of property, putting Epra in the spotlight.
“Regrettably, investigations conducted by our team have faced undue delays in the prosecution phase, leading to suspects obtaining court orders for the release of exhibit and other evidence,” Mr Kiptoo says in the letter seen by this publication.
“Their appointment as dedicated public prosecutors for cases within our sector would significantly contribute to expediting the legal process, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of our joint efforts in upholding the rule of law.”
The Embakasi gas explosion raised questions on the effectiveness of Epra’s ability to arrest suspects, successfully prosecute the cases and deter similar crimes in the future.
Epra had said it had rejected three license applications to set up the plant in Embakasi but existence of the facility and consequent accident raises questions about the regulator’s efforts to guarantee the safety of Kenyans.
The regulator in 2019 gazetted stringent rules for the cooking gas sector in a bid to curb illegal refilling, selling gas without permits or transporting the commodity in unauthorised vehicles.
