Mombasa,KENYA:The owner of the Patel dam in Nakuru county which claimed 47 lives after a burst has blamed the incident on heavy rainfall.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Patel Manskuh the owner of the Patel coffee estates said investigations into the incident pointed out to heavy rainfall at the nearby Dundori forest which caused massive soil erosion.
“Investigations point to the heavy rainfall in Dundori forest resulting in massive soil erosion with high pressure accompanied by dead stump,logs and big boulders that hit the wall of the dam causing a huge gush of water into the farm and outlying settlements.” Patel Manskur said in a statement.
This statement comes just a few days after the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Hajji ordered a probe into the incident .
Hajj further ordered the resultant file to be forwarded to him in 14 days.
Last week, engineers from the Water Resources Management Authority said none of the 7 dams at the Patel coffee estates had been authorized by the authority.
The revelation prompted KDF officers who were conducting the rescue operation to drain two dams in the farm which were deemed as a threat.
However, in an interview with Citizen TV after the incident ,the farm manager Vinod Jayakuma denied claims that the dams in the farm were illegal.
Mystery has been hanging over Patel Manskuh’s identity since the incident occurred.
Efforts by the media to put a face to the man behind the killer dam have proved futile.
On Tuesday, the standard newspaper accused a Nakuru MCA of demanding a bribe of sh 50,000 before he could release Patel’s photo.
However, Patel said that he was working together with the national government to restore normalcy and rebuild all what had been lost during the incident.
