ODPP okays out of court Settlement in Solai dam case

Naivasha,

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

KNA by Erastus Gichohi

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has okayed a fresh suit seeking an out-of-court settlement in the tragic Solai dam case after six years of a court battle.

 The suit filed under a certificate of urgency through State Counsel Alex Muteti, indicates that the 48 families of the victims of the tragic May 8, 2018 dam burst in the Nakuru Solai area have reached of court settlement with the farm director.

Muteti told the court that the accused and victims’ families together with their lawyers have held several meetings and have reached an agreement that will see families who lost adults each pocketing Sh1.2m and minors Sh800,000 from the farm owner.

The filed suit comes after the Naivasha Chief Magistrate Nathan Lutta Shiundu who has handled the criminal case since it was filed had put the nine accused persons including the dam owner Perry Manusukh to their defense.

 Lutta while delivering his ruling in April this year said that the evidence adduced in court by all the 36 state witnesses had implicated the dam owner and his eight co-accused persons in the dam tragedy.

Perry Manusukh, a director at Solai Farm, and eight others were on 8th May 2018 charged with 48 counts of manslaughter for failing to prepare an environmental impact assessment report which led to the death of 48 people.

The other eight co-accused are Solai farm General Manager Vinoj Jaya Kumar, Tomkim Odhiambo, Willice Omondi, Lynette Cheruiyot, Johnson Njuguna, Luka Kipyegen, Winnie Muthoni and Jacinta Were.

The nine accused persons who were first charged in 2019 have been attending the case in person after they were each released on a bond of sh5 million with surety of a similar amount or an option of sh2.5 million cash bail.

 Muteti told the court that ODPP had supported the out-of-court agreement application as part of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms after reviewing the victim's letter accepting the compensation agreement terms.

Consequently, the State Counsel said the agreement if okayed by the Court would breathe a sigh of relief to tens of aggrieved families, who for six years continued to shoulder a heavy burden both emotionally and financially.

 In addition, Muteti said the victims have agreed to be compensated the full amounts in cash and in return withdraw the case facing the dam owner Perry Manusukh, and the co-accused.

 On his part, the victims' lawyer Hagai Chimei told the court that they support the new application to settle out of court with all parties okaying to the agreed terms of compensating the affected families.

“We support the application by ODPP to have an out-of-court settlement after all the affected victims signed the compensation agreement,” he said.

With the renewed efforts to have an out-of-court settlement, the aggrieved families’ fresh plea now awaits the court ruling on the fresh application this week on Thursday.

The 2018 dam tragedy left a trail of destruction after the dam located in the hilly area of Solai burst its walls gushing millions of littles of water toward the sleepy villages of Endao, Milmet, Nyakinyua, Energy, and Arutani leading to the death of 48 people and displacement of others.

Courtesy; KNA