Why it had to happen

By Standard ReportersThose lucky not to be burned to death are fighting for their lives in hospitals. Furious tongues of fire incinerated the unlucky women, men and children alike. Some were fast sleep in their makeshift homes while others just happened to be either walking or working at the wrong place at the wrong time. Others had simply gathered around storm water drainages teeming with fuel escaping from Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) pipes. The dead and survivors had staked out to make a fortune, but they ended up as fresh statistics on Kenya’s long list of man-made disasters.
At the end of the calamitous day, some claimed it was an act of God, works of evil spirits, human negligence and even supernatural forces. In total 76 charred bodies had been pulled out of the sewers and dirty grounds around the disaster scene.
Free manna Another 112, with blackened, burned out or peeling skins, were undergoing treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital. There were five others at Mater Hospital and only one at Metropolitan Hospital. Their groans, cries and even numbed silence seared the hearts of the nation, especially as they blared off television screens and radio speakers.

Like fire from hell nothing was left standing after its killer wave; not even humans, homes and livestock. Photo: Standard

Sadly, the rescuers closed the day well aware there were many more bodies uncollected or unsighted, and also several people reported missing, their whereabouts unknown. One KPC technical expert, stunned by the deaths, confessed in confidence that the corporation’s aging pipes "burst spilling premium fuel commonly known as "super" into City Council of Nairobi storm drains". "With a flow rate of 660m3 (cubic metres) per hour, the pipeline was spewing out an average of 10000 litres of super petrol per minute. As is commonplace in Kenya, wananchi flocked to get a taste of free manna from heaven not knowing it would turn out to be their death trap."
Last week The Standard carried a story questioning the logic and wisdom of expanding KPC’s pipeline network when the existing one was old and deteriorating fast.
"An audit of the line between Nairobi and Mombasa will reveal horrific structural weaknesses with vast areas of patchwork on pressurised pipes. The new Chinese-constructed line to Western Kenya was just being commissioned when the burst happened,’’ conceded the KPC technical expert.
Back to Sinai, the agony of Kenyans was accentuated by the tears of their relatives and friends, stung by grief at having witnessed the skeletal remains of their loved ones still burning on the ground, hours after they died. It is needless to even describe acridity of smell of burning flesh that hung over Nairobi’s Sinai Slums.
If it were a sprawling fabric of poverty, on Monday it was a sea of fire, which discriminated not against sex, age, colour and tribe. It was just a killer wave sweeping all rounds, leaving homes and businesses smouldered in its wake, in a speed that no human could beat.
But what exactly led to the problems at KPC’s network? That is a question many are asking, and it is what must be unmasked to bring this case to closure, punish those who could have prevented it yet stood aside, and assuage the anger and pain of those orphaned, widowed, and devastated by the super-petrol fireball in any way. The latest tragedy must also prick our collective consciences as a nation: for either looking the other way or pretentiously haranguing KPC — as it strove to clear the areas in the country where its pipes cut through — as an unfair war on the poor.
The big question remains: was the KPC expert lying to The Standard? Apparently not, because a fortnight ago, Energy Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike confirmed the Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline was obsolete, and in need of urgent replacement. "The Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline is very old and is past its 25 years lifespan. We need a new pipeline by 2014," he said.
Procurement corruptionAlso, last night his employer released a statement conceding the pipes burst leading to the spillage.
"There was spillage of petroleum products on the by-pass between Nairobi and Mombasa known as Line 1 and the Nairobi-Eldoret line called Line 4 and that is what caused the regrettable incident," said KPC managing director Mr Selest Kilinda. He explained KPC engineers were mobilised immediately after spillage was noticed.
Over a decade ago, in 1999, KPC commissioned a study on the pipeline that returned the verdict the facility had served its purpose should be shut down and a new pipeline constructed. But KPC, a company that has in the past been rocked by claims of corruption in procurement and general mismanagement, ignored the report by Phil Limited and decided to expand the pipeline, ostensibly to meet rising demand of petroleum products in Nairobi and further on in western Kenya.
When Nyoike, an engineer by profession spoke, he conceded that despite the upgrade that was completed in 2008 at a cost of Sh7.8 billion and which brought embarrassment to President Kibaki because the system could not function when he went to commission it, the pipeline has been a failure in as far as evacuating petroleum products is concerned.
While this was an admission coming late in the day, considering both KPC and the Government (represented by the Ministry of Energy) knew about the status of the pipeline, Kenyans would be shocked to know that KPC ignored the recommendations of its own commissioned report over the dangers posed by the facility. After the burst, spillage and fire, they would definitely be justifiably more horrified.
Location of the depot Why? Because for the record, according to international standards, oil pipelines have a lifespan of between 25-30 years. However, the Mombasa-Nairobi line is over 33 years old having started long before but went into use in 1978.
But what should worry Kenyans also is the resistance politicians and the public have put up when KPC and State security organs tried to clear the pipeline of human settlement and economic activity.
Which is what the KPC expert had in mind when he concluded: "Finally it is probably time to revisit the location of the depot in relation to the adjacent economic and human activities. The depot at Nairobi terminal when full to capacity holds tens of millions of litres of petroleum products. In the event of an uncontrolled spillage, God have mercy on our souls."
For an expert on fuel — which is highly inflammable and a potential danger to everybody — to say this, the rest of us have a reason to be very afraid.
And we have not even talked about the skyscrapers built under sagging high-voltage power lines, the chaos on our killer roads, the intermittent switch between flooding and starvation in many parts of the country, and all other manner of disasters waiting to happen.