A tribunal in Kenya has dismissed a petition filed by a consumer rights organisation challenging the proposed construction of a 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery by Aliko Dangote’s Dangote Group in the East African country.
Gatekeepers News reports that according to a Reuters report on Thursday, the petition by the Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) was among several legal challenges against the proposed refinery at Lamu port, along Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline.
In its ruling dated October 30, the tribunal held that COFEK failed to establish that the refinery project was a public-private partnership (PPP), adding that there was no legal basis to compel the disclosure of related documents.
“The tribunal ruled that the petitioner failed to establish that the refinery was a public-private partnership (PPP) project and that there was no legal basis for compelling the disclosure of its documents,” the report stated.
COFEK had approached Kenya’s Public-Private Partnerships Petition Committee Tribunal, seeking to have any approvals granted to the refinery reviewed or set aside if they failed to comply with relevant legal requirements.
The organisation also requested an order compelling the disclosure of details surrounding the Kenyan government’s proposed acquisition of a stake in the refinery, including the investment vehicle, share class, payment terms and evidence of public participation.
The latest ruling follows another legal challenge to the project in September, when Kenya’s Malindi Environment and Land Court ordered parties to maintain the status quo over land earmarked for the refinery, a day before its planned groundbreaking ceremony.
The order followed a suit by 133 residents of Chandavai, who claimed the disputed land was ancestral property occupied and used by their families for generations.
However, on October 14, the court lifted the order, clearing the way for the refinery project to proceed with construction activities in Lamu.
Beyond the refinery project, Dangote has disclosed plans to expand his group’s petroleum distribution infrastructure across Africa following its acquisition of a 25 per cent stake in Kenya’s petroleum products pipeline network.
The industrialist said the group was pursuing investments in pipelines, storage facilities and supply corridors across East, Central and Southern Africa to address petroleum supply constraints and improve the movement of refined products across markets.
Speaking during a conversation with Financial Times journalist David Pilling, Dangote revealed that the group was developing a petroleum distribution corridor linking Djibouti to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while projects in Cameroon and Namibia were also at different stages of development.
He described the Kenyan pipeline investment as part of a broader strategy to establish an integrated petroleum distribution network across the continent.
“We are very aggressive with that,” Dangote said in response to a question about the group’s plans to develop depots, pipelines and other petroleum distribution infrastructure.
“Just let me tell you, yesterday, with the support from the President of Kenya, we bought 25 per cent of the pipeline network for the distribution of petroleum products,” he said.
Dangote also called on African governments to protect domestic industries against unfair foreign competition, stressing the importance of strengthening local production and distribution capacity across the continent.
