NA Parliamentary Energy Committee Commends KMA on Oil Spill Preparedness

By Harrison Kivisu

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Energy has urged the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) to strengthen its readiness to deal with marine oil spills posed by increased maritime traffic in the Kenya’s coastline ports and high seas.

Speaking during a fact-finding mission in Mombasa County, the committee chair Dr Oburu Oginga expressed satisfaction with KMA’s current level of preparedness in managing oil pollution incidents within Kenya’s territorial waters of the Indian Ocean.

“They have given us professional responses and shared how they handled recent spillages. We are satisfied with their preparedness,” he said.

He added: “We are particularly impressed by the establishment of rescue centers in Kisumu and additional satellite facilities—this is a very promising development.”

The committee’s mission included visits to KMA and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) to evaluate the country’s response capacity to marine pollution and assess potential risks to the blue economy.

Key areas of focus included: pollution control strategies and threat mitigation, the maritime ecosystem and its protection, regional and international cooperation mechanisms apart from oil spill contingency planning.

KMA director general CPA Omae Nyarandi highlighted the agency’s investment in modern oil spill response equipment and its commitment to a multi-agency approach to ensure rapid and effective action.

“We demonstrated how we handled two recent incidents one at KPA and another at the Likoni crossing channel to showcase our response systems,” he said.

Present during the visit were director of Maritime Safety, Eng. Julius Koech, and assistant director (AD) for Marine Environment Protection, Michael Mbaru.

The AD noted that recent training and simulation exercises held in Mombasa have significantly boosted the authority’s capabilities.

“The cement training in Mombasa has yielded positive results. We exhibited our capacity during the simulation exercise and are now finalizing an action plan to address any equipment gaps identified during the review.”

The visit reaffirmed the importance of inter-agency collaboration, continuous training, and equipment upgrades in ensuring Kenya’s maritime sector remains resilient in the face of environmental threats.