2 MPs over suspension of oil search in Turkana

NAIROBI, KENYA: Two Members of Parliament from Turkana County have been summoned by CID for grilling over protests that happened in the area leading to the suspension of search for oil.

MPs James Lomenen ( Turkana South) and Nicholas Ngikor ( Turkana East) are wanted by detectives from CID headquarters in Nairobi for grilling over allegations of incitement.Â
CID boss Ndegwa Muhoro said the two have gone underground since Sunday and efforts to trace them are ongoing.Â
“We summoned them for questioning but they are yet to appear and we have sent teams to look for them. We have also sent reinforcement to the area to ensure business go on,” he said.Â
Muhoro added they are determined to ensure safety for the personnel at Tullow Oil Kenya, which announced significant oil finds that promise to be commercially viable.Â
The police boss said the MPs’ action amounts to incitement and hence they want to grill them for more information on the issue.Â
Officials on the ground said more police reinforcement had arrived with instructions to ensure no such demonstration occurs again.Â
This follows the weekend’s incident in which locals staged a protest demanding that they be employed at the company sites including Ngamia 1 and Twiga 1.
This led to its closure and evacuation of the staff hence halting the operations there.Â
The residents marched to the oil sites, demanding an explanation from Tullow officials on criteria the firm used to hire workers, issues on tendering and other issues that affect them.Â
Tullow said it had suspended its operations until the safety of their staff had been assured.
 “We are working with the central and county government to bring these demonstrations to a peaceful and orderly close as soon as possible.”Â
“ We have temporarily suspended our operations across Block 10BB and Block 13T in Turkana East and Turkana South sub-counties. The priority at the moment is to ensure the safety and security of our staff,” the firm said in a statement.Â

The company later announced it had sourced more than half of its employees from the region.
It said 800 of its 1,400 employees are from Turkana.Â
“The Company is fully committed to utilising as many local workers and local services as possible and currently employs over 800 people from the Turkana region out of the 1,400 people currently employed on Tullow’s Kenyan operations.”Â
Tullow announced discovery of oil in Kenya last year after tests on Twiga-1 and Ngamia-1 confirmed the two wells had a potential of 250 million barrels of oil.