Nakuru High court has given Attorney General, Githu Muigai and Ministry of energy 14 days to respond in a case where Menengai Crater villagers want the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) compelled to hire locals.
This is after the two sought for more time through their legal representatives to file their responses to the case which some 500 petitioners moved to court accusing GDC of unfairly locking them out.
High Court Judge Abigael Mshila had directed all parties involved to have filed and served their responses by May 25.
Residents have sued the Attorney General amongst others for failing to adhere to article 69 of the Constitution which advocates for sharing of the natural resource exploited by GDC equitable.
They have also sued the Ministry of Energy and the GDC Company alleging that the company has been discriminative by giving the locals especially the youth a raw deal in staff recruitment.
Residents noted that despite having some qualified people from the area they have been ignored.
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 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 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.
The residents also want the company be compelled to release its Environmental impact assessment report to the public domain.
On May 20, the judge denied the Menengai residents orders restraining GDC from convening any board meetings of directors.
She noted that the orders if granted would be prejudicial as the company will be hand tied by not been able to carry out its routine operations.
However through their lawyer Hari Gakinya the residents yesterday urged the Judge again to grant them the orders they had been denied citing that there were powerful forces trying to frustrate the case.
The case will be heard on June 16.