Kiamaiko Butcheries To Be Closed Down For Protection Of Nairobi River

The government through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA, has ordered all the abattoirs operating in Kiamaiko to relocate to a new facility located in the Lucky Summer area in a month to protect the Nairobi River.

According to NEMA, the slaughterhouse operators who have in recent months snubbed the Lucky Summer facility since its s launch by President Uhuru Kenyatta are operating in an unhygienic manner as well as polluting the waterway.

“The issue of Kiamaiko, I think has been a thorn in the flesh for NEMA for several years. It is a slaughterhouse that is very close to the Nairobi River and has the potential to pollute our river ecosystem. We have given them an order to relocate to the new site and this is the order that must be enforced,” NEMA Director-General, Mamo Boru said.

Mamo further noted that the organization had been in the charade with the abattoir’s operators since 2015 over their hygiene.

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In an assessment carried out by NEMA in December 2020, the government found that the eight conditions are given to the slaughterhouses including taking hides and skins to licensed tanneries daily and medically examining and properly dressing workers, had not been met.

“They did (the assessment) and the recommendation was that they now need to move. We have given them the month of February to organize themselves and move to the new site. There are no extensions. We have engaged them for long and now they need to move,” added Mamo.

The operators had declined to move into the Lucky Summer facility arguing that they would construct their own in Njiru along Kangundo Road but the exercise has since stalled. Kiamaiko abattoirs handle signaling no commitment in its completion soon.

In the Nairobi River regeneration plan, 90 percent of the companies along the river have complied with NEMA’s conditions.