A case has been brought to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) over the Kenyan government’s plan to build a 2,000-5,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in Bondo, near the eastern shore of Victoria Lake, Africa’s largest freshwater lake. The project has been the source of numerous protests from residents since it was announced.
A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) report produced in 2023 by Kenya’s nuclear power program noted that nuclear power should be avoided in the Victoria Lake region, citing volcanic hazards that could impair nuclear safety. However, the nuclear plant project is proceeding, despite the SEA finding.
“I filed a reference at the East African Court of Justice on two grounds,” Dickens Ochieng, told Mongabay in a phone call. Ochieng is a resident of Siaya County, where the facility is located, and a human rights lawyer with J. Henry and Company Advocates, the law firm that filed the case on Sept. 23.
“First, I want the court to determine if we should even have that nuclear power plant in Victoria Lake given the ecological and environmental risk that may be associated with it,” Ochieng said. “Then, I am asking for the project to have a transboundary environmental impact assessment, as Victoria Lake is not only a Kenyan matter.”
Victoria Lake is shared by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Roughly 40 million people across the three countries depend on the lake for their livelihoods, food security and drinking water. Millions more depend on the river that drains from Lake Victoria and meanders north to empty into Egypt’s Nile Delta and the Mediterranean Sea. If the lake and river were to become polluted, the 11 countries of the Nile Basin could be affected.
“I want to know if these countries have been consulted and, if so, if they agree with the project. If not, maybe they should be consulted first,” Ochieng said.
He said it’s also an issue of national security. “We have seen nuclear power plants being targeted in Ukraine, in Iran. Here, we have issues with Al-Shabaab; they are attacking facilities in Kenya. I want the court to determine if putting up a nuclear power plant in Victoria Lake is a regional security issue.”
According to the official petition reviewed by Mongabay, the law firm also accuses the Kenyan government of failing to properly consult local communities in Kenya and failing to propose mitigation measures for the Lake Victoria basin. The Kenyan government has 45 days to respond.
Mongabay contacted the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, which coordinates sustainable development for the basin, and Kenya’s attorney general, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Also referred to as “Darwin’s Dreampond,” Victoria Lake is home to hundreds of endemic species. However, roughly 76% of them are threatened with extinction.
Banner image: Of Lake Victoria. Image courtesy of valerossi via Pixabay (CCO 1.0)
