The county government of Nairobi has less than 24 hours to all the uncollected garbage in the city or face legal action.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Thursday gave City Hall a 48-hour ultimatum to do their job. They are also required to report on compliance to NEMA within seven days failure to which the authority will charge and prosecute relevant county officials.
“You are given 48 hours to clear all the uncollected solid waste that has littered the city and report on compliance to the authority within 7 days failure to which officers in charge will be prosecuted,” part of communication to the county dated March 11 reads.
National Environmental Complaints Committee Secretary Dr John Chumo said they have received numerous complaints from Nairobi dwellers about the sprawling garbage that has gone uncollected for two weeks.
“We feel bad that Nairobi residents have been short-changed yet they deserve a clean environment,” he said.
Nairobi County Chief Officer in Charge of Environment and Natural Resources Mohammed Abdi on Thursday laid the blame on the county’s finance department.
“Ours is to process payment which we did by January. We gave them a priority list. The problem is with finance,” Abdi said.
He said they have agreed with some contractors to work as payments are being processed.
“We have contractors in every zone such as Muthurwa, Pangani and CBD. The streets are now okay,” Abdi said.
Nairobi county owes contractors Sh927 million for work done in 2018-19.
