It has now emerged that the Embakasi gas company that exploded had not been cleared by the Energy and Petroleum and Regulatory Authority to operate the business.
The regulator in statement has said that the company applied for license and was rejected since it had not met some stipulated requirements.
Even so, the Authority did not reveal at what point the company was allowed to continue the dangerous gas refilling process in residential areas.
The Thursday night explosion which shook the cityended lives of three residents and about 280 with serious injuries. The explosion was reported around midnight in Miradi area in Embakasi East.
EPRA stated that the company applied for the storage and filling plant of Liquified Petroleum Gas three times last year between March and July but were all rejected.
“The main reason for rejection was failure of the designs to meet the safety distances stipulated in the Kenya standard,” EPRA statement reads.
Adding that, “EPRA noted the high population density around the proposed site and the applicant was requested to submit a quantitative risk assessment clearly indicating the radiation blast profiles in the unfortunate case of an explosion like the one that happened,”
Even so, the Authority stated that the applicant did not provide the requested assessment resulting in the rejection of its application.
Until the deadly explosion occurred, it is not known how the company proceeded to put up the plant and who allowed them, leaving a trail of questions on how the whole application was concluded.
Even as the investigations continue, a watchman of the gas filling plant was arrested by detectives so as to share more details on what happened before the incident.
However, witnesses and sources say the gas plant operations were reported to various government organisations including NEMA, National Police Service and County officials but no action was taken.
“Officers were seen on different occasions going checking into the plant and stepping out on a daily basis,” Anthony Mulwa a witness stated.
“We suspect that action would be taken soon considering the number of officers who used to visit the company but it seems they were going for other purposes,” Mulwa added.
By Nairobijournal