A committee of the National Assembly has given Export Processing Zone one last chance to make its submissions to members regarding the pollution of River Athi.
Public Petitions Committee gave EPZ CEO Hussein Adan Mohammed seven days to make written submissions having been adversely mentioned in the ongoing probe into pollution of the river.
Committee chair Nimrod Mbai said members of the committee will proceed to write a report after the lapse of the period, whether Mohammed makes his submissions or not.
“We may hold him liable for pollution of the river but we want him to give him one more chance to explain himself,” Mbai stated.
Mohammed had been scheduled to appear before the committee on Tuesday but he sent a letter asking to be given another date.
“He does not take the committee seriously. He has not shown any commitment even in the letter in which he asks for another date,” Kitui West MP Edith Nyenze said.
Nyenze said the committee should proceed and write a report stating that nothing much should be expected from Mohammed.
While conducting a fact-finding mission along the river last month, members of the committee called for swift administrative action against industries discharging effluents into the water body.
Members said industries operating without Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) along the river must be punished.
They recommended that the licences of non-compliant businesses be revoked without delays to protect the river from further pollution.
Officials from EPZ, Mavoko Water and Sewerage Company, Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority nd National Environment Management Authority accompanied the committee during the tour.
The committee toured the river following a petition filed by the Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka (Energy Committee Chair) on the pollution of River Athi.