Salt company seeks Supreme Court’s intervention on whether it should pay for sea water

A salt manufacturing company has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention on whether it should pay for sea water it distills the commodity from.

Kensalt moved to the highest court in the land claiming no one owns sea water and thus the State cannot claim any money from its business other than taxes.

"The respondent had no locus standi (legal authority) or jurisdiction to demand water use charges for the use of sea water,” the firm argues in its court papers.

The determination of this case, between salt manufacturer Kensalt and Water Resources Management Authority, will translate to whether consumers will dig more into their pockets to buy the cooking commodity or the price will remain the same.

Kensalt was slapped with a Sh270 million outstanding bill, which ought to have covered six years it used water without paying for it.

While denying liability, the firm argued it uses water that naturally flows into its land and thus it cannot pay even a penny.

The company in its court papers also argued that sea water is God-given and no one can claim ownership or control.

“The respondent has no powers or jurisdiction to demand water use charges for sea water,” said Kensalt.

Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA) was the first to move to court seeking to force Kensalt to pay the money claimed, plus interest.

The agency argued the Government has powers to regulate the use of sea water within the territorial sea.

According to the State authority, Kensalt is engaged in large-scale production of salt using raw sea water from which it makes huge profits and for that reason the charges were proper and necessary.

The Environment and Lands Court was in favour of Kensalt, ruling that a state agency cannot levy taxes on behalf of the Government for the usage of water resources.

Justice Oscar Angote struck out the case before it went for trial.

But Court of Appeal judges Asike Makhandia, William Ouko and Kathurima M’inoti overturned the High Court’s decision, noting the judge erred by not allowing the dispute to go to a full trial.

The court ordered the case be taken back to a different environment court judge for hearing. But Kensalt moved to the Supreme Court. The case will be mentioned tomorrow.