The High Court has allowed three multi-national companies to continue with oil and gas exploration in parts of Wajir County. Justice George Odunga ruled that Lion Petroleum Corporation Limited, Taipan Resources Incorporation Limited and Premier Oil Plc have a right to continue with the exploration but within designated areas and without interfering with the nomadic life of the residents. “The companies and the residents both have rights to be protected. For the balance to protect each interest, they should continue mining within the 36 hectares they are occupying without subjecting the residents to any mass eviction,” said Justice Odunga. The judge had, last week, stopped the exploration after a petition by some residents who claimed that they were facing eviction and that they were not consulted before the projects begun. The residents had claimed the project would lead to displacement of the Ajuran people and that the drilling would result in development of well pads, pipelines, airstrip access roads and other infrastructure that would lead to clearing of vegetation which is their grazing land.