Mombasa: The Senate Committee on Energy has commended the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) for its efforts in managing maritime oil pollution and safeguarding marine ecosystems. During a fact-finding visit to KMA offices in Mombasa, the committee engaged with key officials to evaluate the country's preparedness to handle oil spills along maritime transport routes and the Port of Mombasa.
According to Kenya News Agency, the Committee Chairperson and Siaya Senator Dr. Oburu Odinga stated that the tour aimed at assessing KMA's readiness to respond to oil spill incidents, which pose a serious threat to marine life and water quality. 'We came here to understand how KMA deals with oil spillage, a danger to our marine environment. We were taken through past incidents and shown the measures in place including the ongoing rescue operations in Lake Victoria,' said Dr. Oburu. The authority also shared plans to establish a major rescue centre in Kisumu, with satellite centres in other parts of the country.
The delegation included the Committee Vice Chairperson and Elgeyo Marakwet Senator William Kipkemoi Kisang and Nominated Senator Beatrice Ogolla. Other key KMA officials present were the Director General (DG) CPA Omae Nyarandi, Director of the Maritime Safety Directorate, Eng. Julius Koech, and Assistant Director for Marine Environment Protection, Michael Mbaru. Nyarandi briefed the lawmakers on Kenya's oil spill response system, which relies on a coordinated multi-agency approach. The DG outlined the Authority's role in implementing national contingency plans, managing risk, and ensuring compliance with international maritime environmental conventions.
'We demonstrated how different agencies collaborate during oil spill emergencies, from containment to mitigation,' he said. The Assistant Director for Marine Environment Protection highlighted recent training and incident management experiences. 'We recently held a regional exercise to evaluate the effectiveness of our national and regional oil spill response mechanisms,' said Mbaru. 'The outcome has informed an action plan to address gaps and enhance our response capacity,' he added.
The Assistant Director noted that in the past two months, KMA has successfully managed two minor oil spills. One incident occurred at Berth 3 at the Port of Mombasa, where marine diesel oil was contained using booms and treated with chemical dispersants. The second incident took place in Likoni during a cargo transfer operation from a tanker to an offshore facility, where a pipeline issue led to a spill that was also successfully contained.