Court stops compulsory acquisition of land for oil exploration in TurkanaWorkers walk past storage tanks at Tullow Oil's Ngamia 8 drilling site in Lokichar, Turkana County, Kenya, February 8, 2018. [REUTERS]The Environment and Lands Court in Kitale have issued temporary orders restraining the National government from compulsory acquisition of land with oil deposits in Turkana County.Turkana County government moved to court seeking conservatory orders to stop the implementation of the National Land Commission (NLC) decision to compulsory acquire the indigenous ethnic land. In a gazette notice dated February 8, 2019, titled Upstream Development, South Lokichar Basin Oil Project, NLC through the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining seeks to acquire 6,348 hectares of land for the project. The county wants the Environment and Land Court to treat the matter as urgent and ought to be heard and determined expeditiously on the ground that the compulsory acquisition of the land will displace local residents. They argued that the petitioner’s action undertaken without consultations would disrupt the planning of Turkana County, which has already formulated its strategic urban development plan 2011-2030.

Source: Standard Digital March 12, 2019 11:26 UTC