SPEECH BY PROFESSOR KAREGA MUTAHI CBS

SPEECH BY PROFESSOR KAREGA MUTAHI CBS THE PERMANENT SECRETARY, OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, DURING THE LAUNCH OF WORLD CLEAN-UP DAY 24TH MARCH 2012, AT MOI DRIVE IN UMOJA NAIROBI

The Permanent Secretaries Present,

Nairobi Provincial Commissioner,

His Worship the Mayor of Nairobi,

Town Clerk, City Council of Nairobi,

Distinguished Guests,

All the residents of Umoja,

All Protocol Observed,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to join you today to mark this year’s World Clean-up Day. This is a noble undertaking that should be promoted and practiced by all Kenyans without exception.

In this connection, I wish to appreciate the Komarocks Community Development Network (KCDN) for championing the Clean-up Campaign through the Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaigns that have been launched in several Towns across Kenya and include major Councils such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisii, Kisumu, Kakamega, Nyeri and Naivasha.

Our thanks go to the KCDN Team that has been so dedicated to this campaign and all the Friends of KCDN who have made this Campaign a success.  As we thank you, we also appeal to you to sustain and enhance the efforts to sensitize Kenyans to be more responsive to the needs of a clean and sustainable environment.

Ladies and Gentlemen

This is a campaign that all City, Municipal and other town CEOs in Kenya should embrace and actively participate in.  I therefore urge them to set aside every 3^rd Saturday of the Month from 7.00a.m to 9.00a.m for this noble exercise. This is an event that I personally support and in which I wish to participate.

Solid Waste Management is a challenge that affects all the urban areas in Kenya and which must be confronted proactively by all.  In this connection, all town and county clerks should create order within their areas of jurisdiction and enforce the relevant by-laws. Let us work together to apprehend all those who litter our urban areas and require them to account for their actions.  However, as we do that we must also spend time to educate those who may be ignorant. As we educate the ignorant, let us make sure that those who deliberately dump garbage by the roadsides are brought to book.  In this regard, residents’ associations need to be informed and empowered to act.

It is also time we instituted measures to separate waste at source.  It is important for our people to start viewing waste as wealth by embracing the principles of Re-using, Re-Cycling and Reducing (3Rs). Working with my colleagues from the relevant Ministries, we will encourage industrialists, to work closely with the Youth and Women groups who are working in the areas of Waste Management to buy the waste that has been well separated at source from these groups. To this end, we will encourage Local Authorities to designate central garbage collection points within all the estates to enable such groups operate.   The Local Authorities should also engage in training people on the separation of solid wastes into different types.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ladies and Gentlemen

There must be order and discipline in our lives and the work places. It is disheartening to see people throwing out garbage, cans and other solid wastes as they drive along the roads. I appeal upon on all law enforcement agencies such as the police and all local authorities askaris to apprehend such people and have them charged in court for littering our towns, neighbourhoods and countryside.

As part of the demonstration that a Clean Kenya can be a reality, my Ministry, working with local authorities will pay special attention to selected markets such as Marigiti and Kongowea Wholesale Markets to make them a good example of what a clean market should be.  In line with this effort, local authorities are encouraged to ensure that all the markets have clean toilets that are, also well lit.

As Kenya celebrates her 50 years of independence next year, I wish to appeal to all the local authorities in Kenya to ensure that as we celebrate, we do so within clean environments. To this end we will be working with relevant stakeholders, including KCDN, to enhance cleanliness of our towns.  It is proposed that measures be put in place to inculcate a sense of competition among towns.  We invite all our Partners, including the Corporates and any other willing Partner to work with us in giving incentives to urban authorities that wish to engage in clean-up campaigns.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I also wish to stress that as we strive towards a clean Kenya, proper Town Planning in our towns and cities is a must.  Inevitably, order must be created and enforced, sometimes through painful fines.  For example our drainage systems must be left free of solid waste and anyone found to be dumping in them should be punished. To achieve this important goal all city by-laws must be implemented and all urban dwellers must take their places and work towards responsible waste management.  In, addition we need to clean and maintain pedestrian walks and the councils must reign in on the PSV madness that clog our roads with impunity. Thus we all must join our hands as one strong team of urban area dwellers to keep our city clean.

 In order to make responsible waste management sustainable, deliberate steps need to be undertaken to engage all actors i.e City Departments, Partners,  Corporates, NGOs, Schools and Religious Groups, just to mention a few.  To realize our rights on clean and sustainable environment, it is important for this exercise to be owned by all stakeholders.  

In conclusion, I wish to stress that a clean Kenya is not only possible but also noble.  As such, let us all join our efforts here, today, tomorrow and always.

I thank you.  God bless you, God bless Kenya our motherland.