How Northern Kenya Is Fighting Exploitation By Oil Companies

Despite global commitments to phase out fossil fuels, several European companies continue to engage in oil exploration across various parts of the world.

In 2010, when test drilling began in Turkana, Northern Kenya, Tullow Oil promised the pastoralist communities a range of benefits: development, schools, roads, water infrastructure, electricity, employment, and improved mobile connectivity. Most of oil still remains in the ground, but the communities say that instead of the above listed benefits, oil exploration brought them so far something else: contaminated water, rising numbers of kidney diseases, miscarriages, and livestock deaths 

A Kenyan oil company has now expressed interest in developing the oil resource, but this has been met with resistance from the local population, due to the reasons above. Elkanah Elimlim, a former employee of Tullow Oil, is among local people voicing concerns. He believes that his child's disability might have been caused by chemical contamination. While several studies have indicated a rapid decrease in water quality, comprehensive data remains limited. Along with 73 others - children, young people, and adults - Elkanah has filed a lawsuit against Tullow Oil, and is waiting for the trial to begin.

Enok Pauli, the head of a village whose land has been used as a landfill site for Tullow Oil's toxic waste for many years, is trying to to raise awareness in neighbouring villages, so that they do not suffer the same fate. Together with human rights activist Muturi wa Kamau from the Kenya Oil and Gas Working Group in Nairobi, he is educating village resindents about land rights and trying to prevent their land and raw materials - oil, gold, or other minerals - from being sold by the government over their heads to large investor projects.

It seems inevitable that oil will be extracted and turned into money. But who can assure that the landowners would benefit from this wealth? What does ‘development’ entail in a region like Turkana, and what price do the communities pay for it?

Photo: The petitioner and former Tullow Oil staff Elkanah Elimlim is inspecting one of the unprotected boreholes the company left behind. (c) Birte Mensing