Criminalizing the Littering of Nairobi

Walking on the streets of Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, one does not fail to notice how clean the surroundings are.

The city is clean with no plastic and nylon papers scattered all over the place. One may be forgiven for thinking that Kigali produces no nylon or plastics. Kigali is clean. The main reason for this is that it is a criminal offence in Kigali for one to litter the city or any other town for that matter.

The story of Kigali becomes exactly opposite the moment one sets foot in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. Walking down the streets of Nairobi, one notices heaps of smelly garbage in almost every corner.

Nairobi is stinking and the Nairobians, as they like to proudly refer to themselves whenever they visit the villages, are working hard in making sure that Nairobi will never be clean. Nylon papers as well as plastic bags are scattered all over the place with sewage trenches overflowing leaving behind a state of agony and a looming danger of contracting diseases.

During this dry period, it is hard to differentiate between water in Nairobi River and the sewage. It is like Nairobi Rivers only gets a feel of real water during a rainy season with the sewage dominating all the other seasons.

Residents of Nairobi seem to have no culture about how to preserve their environment. People are ever littering the City on the Sun and they give no damn on how the city is looking. Garbage collectors have long forgotten their work. It is said that garbage collection is a multi-million venture in Nairobi that is controlled by cartels. These cartels are defrauding the government by being paid for what they are not doing.

It is high time the littering of Nairobi was criminalized and those found culpable be brought to book. But there is a problem. Will this help the already bad situation? Kenyans are known to be in a habit of taking over any situation for their benefit. This may just open another avenue for corrupt officials to start siphoning money from innocent Kenyans. Kenyans need to change and become cautious of their environment.