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{
"id": 405787,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/405787/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "November 27, 2013 SENATE REPORTS 6 Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to thank Sen. Mositet for pointing to us through this Motion this morning; that we need to address this very serious emerging problem that is affecting our people, particularly the health of the people of Kenya who live in the cities. You can already see that out of the devolution that has just been implemented, we are going to have almost 47 cities in the counties in the near future. There is normally a tendency for people to migrate towards where the seat or the throne is; or where the economic activity normally lies. Mr. Speaker, Sir, indeed the problems that we have in the City of Nairobi, as an example, are immense. This is mainly due to the fact that the amount of solid waste generated daily is so huge that we need to turn our attention to it and urge the national Government to wake up and realize this emerging problem. There is data here indicating that we generate 1,500 tonnes of solid waste daily in Nairobi City. The County Government of Nairobi is only capable of disposing of 25 per cent of the same, which means that a staggering 75 per cent of this 1,500 tonnes of solid waste is just left where people are staying, particularly in the slum areas and in the low income estates of Nairobi. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the early 1970s, up to 90 per cent of this solid waste was successfully being disposed off, but later in the 1980s up to now; because of mismanagement in the department that was dealing with the collection and disposal of waste and the corruption that came in, this problem emerged. In addition, there was an attempt to privatize waste collection and disposal, where we have private companies coming to collect this solid waste. A lot of it now became impossible to control because a private company - because of these corruption issues - would come and declare that they had collected that waste, and they would be paid, yet no garbage had been collected. Mr. Speaker, Sir, looking at the data coming from the dispensaries surrounding the areas where the dumpsites are, like Dandora Dumpsite, the diseases that are found there are mainly respiratory; people cannot breath well in the city because of the smoke and the smell. We also have recorded data showing that people are complaining of stomach problems in those areas –the Mathare and Kibera areas – a lot of this uncollected solid waste is found in those areas. It is also indicated here that most of this waste is only collected from high income areas; from people who are capable of paying. Although sometimes we pay some service charge through rent, but because of inability or due to lack of effective policies, estates have come up with their own arrangements, where you pay some extra money outside what is known for this waste to be removed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are so many uncontrolled dumpsites that have come up; we have a lot of broken glass; we have a lot of unhygienic areas and unless a policy is generated – and this can only be done, as it was indicated in the Fourth Schedule – by the national Government so that the implementers of the same, who are the county governments, have a document to rely on and follow, which is standardized across the whole country. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}