Dangote reacts to court order stopping Kenyan refinery construction, says “we don’t care”

The Chairman of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, Aliko Dangote, has reacted to the court stopping its $17 billion East African refinery project in Lamu County, Kenya, saying that “we don’t care; we are ready for them.”

This was made known by Dangote while speaking at a high-level investor engagement organised for the Dangote refinery initial public offering (IPO) with East African institutional investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya.

The Malindi Environment and Land Court in Kenya had suspended construction of the proposed Dangote Refinery in Lamu Country after some farmers and local inhabitants of Chandavai, an area in Lamu County, opposed the move, citing cases of “forceful eviction” and the destruction of their properties.

What he is saying

Africa’s richest man had pointed out that such intrigue is normal for such projects in Africa, noting that this is even small compared to what they have faced in other countries like Senegal.

• Dangote said, ‘’Yesterday as I was landing here at night, I always try to switch off my Wi-Fi on my plane, so that I’ll be able to rest. I don’t want to be disturbed. But immediately when I open my phone, they say, oh yeah, you know, by Bloomberg. I’m sure some of you must have seen it.
• ‘’One court has given an order that we shouldn’t do any construction. I said, no, no, this is normal for us in Africa, we don’t care. In fact, this is even small. In Senegal, it’s not even court. We went, they stopped even our factory for one year. We went up to the Supreme Court to get a judgment.’’

Dangote assured that they know the people who are doing all this and, as such, will face them.

• ‘’So anybody who wants to cause trouble, we are ready for them. We know who are the people doing all these things, so we’ll face them,’’ he said.

More to follow…