ODM party leader Oburu Oginga. /FILEODM party leader Oburu Oginga has urged residents of Lamu and the wider Coast region to reject attempts to derail the Sh2.2 trillion Dangote oil refinery project, describing it as a potential game-changer for the region's economy.
Oburu made the remarks ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony for the 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery on Wednesday.
“We must collectively tell off the political detractors, professional algorithmic complainers, and agents of poverty who want to derail this impactful project for selfish, short-sighted gains,” Oburu said in a statement.
He urged local communities to support the project while calling on the government and other stakeholders to ensure host communities are integrated into the development, fairly compensated and protected.
The statement comes on the kackdrop of President William Ruto's stun warning to individuals he accused of seeking to frustrate the refinery project.
Ruto, speaking in Kilifi on Tuesday, said he would not allow people he described as "shares brokers" to derail the investment, estimated to be worth between Sh2.2 trillion and Sh2.9 trillion.
“I want to tell those people, you cannot defraud us all the time. Because of these shares brokers, Kenya lost investors,” Ruto said.
He cited previous investments involving Dangote and Uganda's planned crude oil pipeline through Kenya, saying the projects had been affected by bureaucratic hurdles and other interests.
“These same scammers took Uganda in circles until Uganda took the pipeline to Tanzania. The same brokers are now thinking they will frustrate Dangote. I want to tell you, niko macho mbaya sana. Hapa, hamtoboi bwana,” Ruto said.
Oburu, whose ODM party is part of the broad-based government, welcomed Ruto's support for the refinery, saying the project would help advance industrialisation and economic development at the Coast.
“I extend my highest appreciation to President William Ruto for recognising the transformative potential of this project, intervening decisively, and providing the necessary state goodwill to turn this cross-generational vision into reality,” he said.
He described the refinery as the largest private industrial investment in East African history and said it would have far-reaching economic implications for Lamu and the wider region.
Besides creating more than 60,000 direct and indirect jobs, Oburu said the project is expected to generate 1,000 megawatts of power on site, with 500 megawatts supplied to the national grid.
He said the refinery would also anchor the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor and stimulate industries such as petrochemicals, manufacturing, packaging and agro-fertilisers.
Oburu also linked the project to the legacy of his late brother, former ODM leader Raila Odinga, saying Dangote had been a close friend of the former opposition chief.
“The Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has been a cherished family friend and a true, long-standing brother to our late iconic leader, the Right Honourable Raila Amolo Odinga (Baba),” he said.
The groundbreaking comes days after the Malindi Environment and Land Court declined to stop the event and ordered that the status quo be maintained on land until October 14, when a case filed by 133 residents of Chandavai will be heard.
The residents had told the court that the land is ancestral and that their families have lived and farmed there for generations.
Dangote dismissed those behind the court process saying the court order would not halt Wednesday's groundbreaking ceremony and eventual construction of the refinery.
"Anybody who wants to cause trouble, we are ready for them," he said, describing it as a small issue.
Six heads of state are expected to attend the ceremony.
Ruto will be joined by Rwanda's Paul Kagame, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed and Burundi's Évariste Ndayishimiye.
Benin's Romuald Wadagni and Togo's Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové are also expected to attend, alongside other leaders yet to be confirmed.
The refinery is expected to take up to three years to complete.
