Victims of lead poisoning in the Owino Uhuru slum in Changamwe, Mombasa County, yesterday staged peaceful demonstrations to demand justice over Sh1.3 billion compensation.

In their hundreds, they marched on Meru Road and camped outside the Court of Appeal in Mombasa to protest delayed compensation.

The residents together with the Centre for Justice Governance and Environmental Action Organisation have been seeking justice in a compensation case currently in the Court of Appeal.

In July 2020, Environment and Lands Court judge Ann Omolo ordered that the residents be awarded Sh1.3 billion for deaths, sickness and damages caused by emissions from a lead-smelting factory.

But the State, aggrieved by the award, appealed against the order.

The residents had in 2016 filed a class action suit against the ministries of Environment and Health, National Environment Management Authority (Nema), Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA), Penguin Paper and Book Company and the lead smelting factory, Metal Refinery EPZ Ltd, seeking Sh2 billion as damages.

Family members

However, the case which has been in court for over three years, has suffered setbacks as the Court of Appeal for the third time deferred the delivery of the judgment.

Among those affected is Jackson Wanyama who says that four of his family members, including his wife and children, died because of lead poisoning.

“We are only hoping that one day our people will get justice and that justice will be compensation. I lost four members of my family due to lead poisoning and it has not been an easy journey to get justice,” said Wanyama.

Centre for Justice Governance and Environmental Action has been campaigning for the compensation of residents.

Another resident Janet Ogira said she lost her child because of lead poisoning and she is among those who are expect to be compensated.

She said the delayed justice had continued to cause more pain to them.

“We want justice. We have been suffering pain for losing our loved ones, we are poor and the only hope is to have courts deliver justice to us,” Ongira told journalists outside Court of Appeal premises in Mombasa.

Justice Governance and Environmental Action executive director Phylis Omido claimed the residents have waited for over two years to get justice in a pending appeal case in the Court of Appeal. The court is set to make its ruling on March 17, 2013, after deferring judgment twice.

Public interest

“The court of appeal has deferred scheduled judgment dates twice, that is from December 2, 2022 to February 17, 2023 and now to March 17, 2023. In regards to this, the residents decided to picket in accordance with article 37 of the Constitution demanding justice they feel has been denied,” said Omido.

He termed the case a matter of public interest directly challenging the various arms of government towards their obligations and responsibility as public servants and the place of justice and the rule of law for the most vulnerable.

“This is a clear case of the public observing the rule of law even on their deathbed while State agencies conspire to deny them justice even to their death,” she told the media outside the Court of Appeal in Mombasa.