Kenya's environment regulator let a lead smelter poison a Mombasa neighborhood, courts ruled, and it still hasn't paid the victims

Kenyan courts found that the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) approved a lead-acid battery recycling plant beside Owino Uhuru village in Mombasa before fully considering and evaluating its impact and then failed to use its enforcement powers once harm became apparent; the Court of Appeal set NEMA's share of liability at 30%, the Export Processing Zones Authority's at 10%, and the environment and health ministries' at 5% each, and on 6 December 2024 the Supreme Court upheld that apportionment and reinstated the Environment and Land Court's KSh1.3 billion award for personal injury and loss of life plus KSh700 million for environmental restoration if the cleanup was not done. In July 2026 the Mombasa Environment and Land Court, with a garnishee order against funds held for NEMA pending, gave NEMA's Director General seven days to file a sworn affidavit explaining why compensation had not been released and setting out a payment plan, warning the funds would otherwise be attached, criticised the parties' 'utter lack of seriousness' and 'cavalier attitude', and set the matter for 12 October 2026.