The case where more than 500 residents of Nakuru County have moved to court accusing the Menengai based Geothermal Development Co-operation Board of neglecting locals in jobs placement will be heard on May 26 this year.
This after the judge, Abigael Mshila granted the office of the Attorney General 7 days to file and serve their responses to the petition.
The residents have sued the Attorney General amongst others for failing to failing to adhere to article 69 of the constitution which advocates for sharing of the natural resource exploited by GDC equitably.
They have also sued the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the GDC Company alleging that the company has been discriminative by not giving the locals especially the youth a raw deal in its recruitment of staff.
They noted that despite locals in the area having the relevant qualifications and competences to acquire the jobs, they have been biasly hand picked.
According to them the company being a state co-operation should ensure that locals from the area benefit from the resource.
They accused the company of not reflecting resources equability to the people of Nakuru County who bear the blunt of environmental degradation as a result of activities of the power production company.
They further alleged that the recent board GDC board members; Salaton Leteipa, Florence Chepngetich, Michael Ogwapit, Dr Stephen Njiru and did not constitute of anybody from the Nakuru county.
In their petition, they also accused the company of emitting hazardous gases to the air thus adversely affecting the atmosphere of the local community.
They have asked for orders compelling GDC to reconstitute its board and allow the petitioners 95 percent of appointments in the board.
However their prayers seeking orders barring GDC from convening any board meetings of directors pending hearing and determination of the matter were yesterday denied by Judge Mshila.
She noted that the orders been sought do not confer any benefit to the residents and they have not proved to the court what harm it would cause them if GDC conveyed any board meeting of directors.
“The company needs to continue operating and decisions made cannot be implemented if the order been sought are granted as they will disrupt the operations and it would be prejudicial,” she said
The residents also want the company be compelled to release its Environmental impact assessment report to the public domain.