Kenya's 'Erin Brockovich' defies harassment to bring anti-pollution case to courts
Eight years after her baby was lead-poisoned through breast milk, Kenya’s most prominent anti-pollution campaigner is set to finally get her day in court in a case that the UN hopes will prove a landmark for environmental defenders across Africa.
Phyllis Omido has been threatened by thugs, arrested by police and forced into hiding for organising opposition to a lead-smelting factory in Mombasa, which allegedly poisoned residents in the neighbouring shantytown of Owino Uhuru.
But the NGO she founded, the Centre for Justice, Governance, and Environmental Action, has already forced the closure of the plant and is now pushing the courts to secure compensation for the victims and a clean-up of the community.
They have gathered thousands of local residents in a class action against the government and two companies – Metal Refinery EPZ Ltd and Penguin Paper and Book Company (no connection with the global publishing company) for 1.6bn Kenyan shillings (£11.5m) compensation and a clean-up of contaminated land.
Two years after the suit was launched, the plaintiffs will be called as witness for the first time on 19 March in the environment and land court.
“This is the biggest step since we started,” Omido told the Guardian. “The victims will finally get to tell their story in court. That’s crucial in making people realise what happened. We hope our case will be something that every environmental defender in the world can refer to when they raise issues of accountability.”
Progress has been perilous. Following assaults and intimidation, the United Nations has called on the Kenyan government to protect Omido and her fellow activists. A special rapporteur, John Knox, said in a statement last year that two homes had been burned, death sentences had been issued and a 12-year-old son of one activist was kidnapped for three days.
The plant has been closed. Former director Hezron Awiti Bollo declined to respond to the allegations. “I cannot comment. This is a matter that is in the courts,” he told the Guardian by phone.
Phyllis Omido has been threatened by thugs, arrested by police and forced into hiding for organising opposition to a lead-smelting factory in Mombasa, which allegedly poisoned residents in the neighbouring shantytown of Owino Uhuru.
But the NGO she founded, the Centre for Justice, Governance, and Environmental Action, has already forced the closure of the plant and is now pushing the courts to secure compensation for the victims and a clean-up of the community.
They have gathered thousands of local residents in a class action against the government and two companies – Metal Refinery EPZ Ltd and Penguin Paper and Book Company (no connection with the global publishing company) for 1.6bn Kenyan shillings (£11.5m) compensation and a clean-up of contaminated land.
Two years after the suit was launched, the plaintiffs will be called as witness for the first time on 19 March in the environment and land court.
“This is the biggest step since we started,” Omido told the Guardian. “The victims will finally get to tell their story in court. That’s crucial in making people realise what happened. We hope our case will be something that every environmental defender in the world can refer to when they raise issues of accountability.”
Progress has been perilous. Following assaults and intimidation, the United Nations has called on the Kenyan government to protect Omido and her fellow activists. A special rapporteur, John Knox, said in a statement last year that two homes had been burned, death sentences had been issued and a 12-year-old son of one activist was kidnapped for three days.
The plant has been closed. Former director Hezron Awiti Bollo declined to respond to the allegations. “I cannot comment. This is a matter that is in the courts,” he told the Guardian by phone.
Source: theguardian
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