PBI-Kenya accompanied Phyllis Omido and CJGEA cautiously celebrate halt to proposed nuclear power plant
Photo: PBI-Kenya meets with the Center for Justice Governance and Environmental Action (CJGEA) to discuss various matters, including potential security issues for the defenders and community members opposing the nuclear plant.
On January 24, 2025, The Star reported: “On Tuesday, President William Ruto chaired the first Cabinet meeting of 2025 [and] a [State House statement to newsrooms announced] the Cabinet approved a series of recommendations [including that the] Nuclear Power and Energy Agency [Nupea would be dissolved].”
That Nairobi-based newspaper article continues: “According to environmental lobby group, Center for Justice Governance and Environmental Action [CJGEA], the decision to dissolve Nupea is a significant step in Kenya’s just energy transition journey. CJGEA has been at the forefront to oppose the plan by Nupea to set up a Sh500 billion nuclear power plant at Uyombo, in Matsangoni, Kilifi North.”
That article further notes: “In a statement, CJGEA executive director Phyllis Omido [said] ‘The Nuclear Energy sector as currently constituted is a form of imperialist agenda. A technology that you buy yet never own, does not deserve the hard-earned money from Kenyans and the yoke of debt that spans generations to come.”
Nuclear project halted
The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation more definitively states: “On Tuesday, January 22, Kenya’s parliament disbanded the agency tasked with developing nuclear projects, essentially putting all nuclear projects on hold. By closing the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA), parliament also eliminated its one-billion Kenyan shilling budget. The decision is a significant success for Right Livelihood Laureate Phyllis Omido, who has long campaigned against an ill-planned nuclear power plant in the Uyombo community.”
They add: “The decision halts nuclear projects planned along Kenya’s coast, including one in Uyombo, Kilifi County.”
And they note: “Despite this major milestone in the campaign, Omido remains vigilant: ‘It does not mean that Kenya has completely stopped its nuclear ambitions … now there will exist an arm within the Ministry of Energy that will look into nuclear.'”
Timeline
On May 21, 2024, as reported by the Right Livelihood Foundation, the police in Uyombo fired 137 live rounds and 70 tear gas canisters near a group of peaceful protestors and arrested two environmental defenders.
Shortly afterwards, on June 14, 2024, PBI-Kenya posted on social media: “The proposed nuclear power plant in Uyombo, Kilifi County has sparked significant concerns from many including @CJGEA & [Right Energy Partnership with Indigenous Peoples].” Their social media post also included an Al Jazeera interview with Phyllis Omido.
On October 11, 2024, PBI-Kenya, in the context of the police violence against community members just a few months earlier, posted that they were “accompanying land and environmental activists from Kilifi County” as they marched to the office of the Governor of Kilifi in opposition to the nuclear power plant.
On July 3, 2024, PBI-Kenya “met survivors of police brutality from the anti-nuclear plant protest in Uyombo.”
That same day, PBI-Kenya also posted on social media: “We held a meeting with [the Center for Justice Governance and Environmental Action-Kenya] discussing the risks of a proposed nuclear power plant in Uyombo, Kilifi County. We covered environmental threats, public health concerns, lack of remediation policies, and potential security issues. Community input and safety must come first.”
A week later, On July 10, 2024, they further posted: “We are in Kilifi County in solidarity with the residents of Uyombo village who were brutalized by [the National Police Service-Kenya] while fighting against the proposed building of a nuclear power plant in their village.”
Construction on the nuclear power plant had been expected to start in 2027 with it due to be operational in 2034.
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