Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited (KPLC) has suffered a major blow after the High Court ordered it to pay more than Ksh500 million over the Nakumatt Supermarket Kenyatta Avenue fire on January 28, 2009, that claimed 30 lives.
Justice Jacqueline Mong'are ordered the power company to pay the owner of the premise, Woolworths Limited USD 3,085,600 (Ksh41.5 million) for loss of rent, Ksh7.4 million land rent and rates, Ksh58.5 million for the value of the building, Ksh4 million for cost of demolition and reimprovement of the property, Ksh185,600 for Quantity Surveyor fees, Ksh243,600 for legal fees and Ksh469,800 for carting away the debris together with interest as from August 13, 2009.
The judge also granted the owner general, aggravated and exemplary damages together with interest from the date of her judgment until payment in full.
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Kenya Power to blame
In her judgment, Justice Mong'are compensated the owner of the prime property the millions of shillings saying that KPLC was to blame for the fire outbreak at the premises.
"In view of the foregoing and the testimony rendered before this court and in the absence of any other evidence to the contrary, l am persuaded that there is a prima facie evidence before this court to suggest that KPLC is solely to blame for two fire outbreak at the suit property," Justice Mong'are ruled.
She however absorbed Nakumatt Holdings Limited and its director Atulkumar Maganlala Shah of any blame for the fire and the loss of property and lives.
"l opine that in as much as Nakumatt Supermarket was in breach of Clauses 3(20)and 4(2) of the lease agreement between Woolworth and Nakumatt dates June 12, 1995, no evidence has been adduced to the effect that the LPG cylinders, paint thinners, spirit and or generator that it kept in the suit property were the cause of the fire outbreak, " the judge said.
In addition, Justice Mong'are said that KPLC witnesses namely Ngei Ntamo and Charles Muhoro both technicians of the power supply company who visited the site on the day of the fire and three days after the fire, confirmed to the court that when they got to the site, the generator was intact with diesel save for slight burns on the top of it.
"They (witnesses) further confirmed that the fire outbreak was not caused by Nakumatt's generator," the judge noted.
Mong'are ruled that the fire was a result of errors made in the process of repairing a fault at transformer No. G 15834411 situated at Nation Centre following complaint number 1675312 by Nakumatt regarding power supply disruption.
"It is evident from the evidence adduced before this court that there was power outrage at the said property in the morning and that the fire broke out just after power had been restored at the Nakumatt downtown supermarket," Mong'are ruled.
She noted that KPLC averred that the fire outbreak was not caused by negligence on its part and or power disruption on the fateful day of the fire since the transformer that supplied electricity to the property was not damaged and it is intact to date.
In addition, the judge said KPLC while distancing it from blame informed her that all other adjacent buildings that were also supplied with electricity by the said transformer were not affected.
She added that testimony presented before her by an employee of KPLC testified as soon as the fire broke out there was a short circuit and the fuse at the substation tripped and the power was automatically disconnected.
Thereafter, the transformer cut off power to the adjacent buildings.
The court noted that two KPLC witnesses contraindicated each other on the tripping and on the power outage.
"Notably, instead of collaborating the evidence of Muhoro, Ntabo testified that Muhoro who was his boss reported the incident to him that none of Nakumatt equipment tripped as a result of the fire. To the contrary, Muhoro is the one who switched off the transformer as a precaution to prevent further spread of the fire by disconnecting the cable supply power to the property and restored power to all the adjacent buildings," Justice Mong'are noted.
She said that "the contradiction between the evidence of Ntabo and Muhoro leaves nothing to be desired."
According to the judge, one thing is constant: the fire at the Nakumatt downtown supermarket broke out immediately after power was reconnected.
"I find it questionable that Muhoro was able to explain what burnt the top of Nakumatt generator but did not offer any explanation as to what burnt the meter box and cable that supplied electricity to the suit property," Mong'are ruled.
