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The order to retest OCP Kenya fertilizer, suspected of «containing an excessive amount of mercury» has not been implemented yet, Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation reported on Tuesday.
The collection of fresh samples was expected to take place on February 20th. According to OCP Kenya lawyer Paul Muite the procedure, ordered by the court in January, was reportedly retarded by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), an agency that is responsible for the assessment, collection and accounting for all revenues that are due to the Kenyan government.
According to the same source, Muite has urged Kenya’s high court to dismiss an application in which the agency refuses to let its officials be summoned over alleged defiance of court orders. In fact, KRA has been «accused of ignoring court orders» to retest OCP’s fertilizer.
«KRA has defied orders of High Court Judge Daniel Ogembo twice that it aides the retesting the 3,000 tons of fertilizer shipped into the country on November 2017 by OCP (K) Limited», Muite said. «And twice it has defied orders of Senior Principal Magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot that it opens the seals it placed on containers storing the fertilizer», he added.
The lawyer is annoyed that the agency refuses to «break seals for samples» to be taken and retested by an independent laboratory in the presence of Kenyan officials.
In February, OCP Kenya lawyer accused two other governmental agencies in Mombasa of neglecting a court's order on the collection of fresh samples of the firm’s fertilizer. His demands were neglected by the court, which stressed that «the previous order for the two agencies to go for the tests was erroneous».
The decision was taken after OCP Kenya refused the results of the first tests conducted in June 2018, arguing that they «were conducted by a multi-agency team in the absence of the accused persons and that this violated their rights».
Replying to accusations, OCP said that its branch in «Kenya complied fully with Kenyan procedures and regulations in place».
