Garbage Choking the City in the Sun

Nairobi, the city famously known as the City in the Sun has in the past few months been on the verge of sinking in an ocean of garbage that has been ruling the streets.

Walking through the streets of Nairobi, all the way from the Central Business District, one would not fail to notice heaps of garbage, streams of stinking sewage, stagnant filth in the blocked drainage systems and the pungent smell all over the atmosphere.

Kenyans, especially those who stay within Nairobi took to social media, vehemently cursing and expressing their discontent in the City Hall officials with Governor Evans Kidero for the failure on their part to collect the piling heaps of garbage within the city.

Studying the screaming comments on the social media concerning the matter, a keen reader would understand exactly what was missing, and that was the root cause of the piling waste products within the city.

There has been an existence of a blame game what exactly is the root cause of the piling waste with some of the City Hall officials blaming the Elnino rains as having caused the accumulation of the wastes, some have blamed the presence of cartels who collude with some City Hall officials to halt the efforts of garbage collection, some have blamed Dr. Evans Kidero who in turn is blaming three of his County Executives as having contributed to the increased garbage in the city.

But what exactly is the cause of the increased atmospheric smell, overflowing sewage and the presence of the mountains of garbage along the streets of Nairobi?

The first root cause that is rarely talked about is the presence of houses and estates in Nairobi. Nairobi is made up of houses and estates that have been built all over with no proper mechanisms of sewage disposals. Most landlords in Nairobi build and rent out their apartments to their tenants without providing them with channels to dispose wastes from their houses. This has left the majority of them coming up with an option of collecting garbage within their areas of residence and then dumping it by the road during the night. Regulations should be put in place to compel all the landlords to ensure that garbage within their premises is collected and disposed as required.

The piling of garbage within Nairobi also comes as a result of the increased human population in Nairobi. As the number of people in any given place increases, there is an increased usage of products and, therefore, increased waste products too. There is nothing that can be done about the increasing population within the city given the fact that Nairobi is considered as a haven of opportunities to most job seekers but perhaps the coming up at a faster rate in terms of developments of some Counties neighboring Nairobi such as Kiambu County will greatly help in the decongesting Nairobi.

Most Nairobi people are irresponsible in terms of waste disposal. People are not conscious about the environment and just go around throwing litter all over the place. It is common in Nairobi to see people in speeding cars throwing bottles along the road, some throwing gum after chewing, some spitting saliva all over the place and later, when the garbage pile, the same people come out with guns blazing. Rules should be set like those one in Rwanda. In Rwanda, it is a crime to dispose any form of garbage, even if it is a piece of paper anywhere. Go to Kigali Rwanda and the streets will tell you the story of how strictly implemented rules can leave a town clean and comfortable to live in.

There are also limited dumping sites in Nairobi. The few existing ones are full living the City Hall without choises of where to dump the ever produced garbage within the city. For instance, Dandora dumpsite is no longer accessible and upon collecting the garbage, the City Hall is often tasked with looking at other alternative dumping places. It is estimated that Nairobi alone produces more than 2,400 tonnes of solid waste per day something City Hall is unable to cope with.

Most drainage systems within Nairobi are completely blocked making the sewage that flows through them to spill over the streets and the roads. The County Government of Nairobi is the one tasked with making sure that the drainage systems are operational and this will greatly help in tackling the problem.

Article by Juma Fred.