Kenya's Parliament building. Parliament is seeking to amend the Environmental Management and Coordination Act, 1999. [Photo/nation.co.ke]Environment lobbyists have objected proposed changes to the environmental laws calling on Parliament to drop the amendments.Parliament is seeking to amend the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA), 1999.If enacted, the laws will see the chairperson and vice person of the National Environmental Tribunal (NET) elected from a list of tribunal members rather than appointment by the Judicial Service Commission, reports the Star on Monday. Once signed into law it will also lift all existing court orders against projects, as well as revoke the provision that grants an automatic stay order once an appeal has been lodged at the NET.Analysts see it as a move by Jubilee to clip the Judiciary’s powers on mega projects and unlock the standard gauge railway through Nairobi National Park and Amu Coal Power Project which have been stopped by the courts.In memoranda, human rights activist Okiya Omtatah said the changes on how the NET tribunal should be composed and headed will lead to a creation of a tribunal which is not independent and impartial.Omtatah warned against the provisions that lift previous stop orders saying it goes against the principles of natural justice and is retrogressive. "The correct position in law is for the EMCA to be amended in such a way that the JSC is allowed to execute its mandate of constituting the Tribunal independently," Omtatah said last weekend.Separately, EIA expert John Musingi said the changes are aimed at putting the tribunal under executive control. “They sabotaged the tribunal by refusing to review the term of the chairman and the court hasn’t been operating for months. This is meant to weaken it further so that whatever the government decides the rest is subsidiary and cannot be stopped, which is unconstitutional,” Musingi is quoted by the Star as saying.

Share news tips with us here at Hivisasa