Nine to be charged over Kenya rose farm dam break that killed 47
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s top prosecutor on Wednesday ordered nine businessmen and government officials charged with manslaughter for their involvement in the collapse of a dam on a rose farm that killed at least 47 people.
Noordin Haji said in a statement that his office is preparing for the suspects to be arraigned in court to answer the charges.
Among those to be charged are two managers of the commercial farm in Nakuru County in Kenya’s Rift Valley where the dam burst in May, Haji’s office said in a statement.
Others who would be charged were officials from the state-run Water Resources Management Authority, the National Environment Management Authority and the administration of Nakuru County.
The dam on the flower farm burst after weeks of heavy rain, sending cascades of water down a hillside where it smashed into two villages. Haji’s statement said unqualified staff had built the dam using farm equipment, relying on flawed designs and without the necessary environmental impact assessment.