Murimi Mutiga and KNA @murimimutiga
Mombasa county is set to establish an anti-dumping police unit to enforce a Sh200 garbage collection levy and arrest anyone violating the Green City Bylaws through littering.
Acting county executive committee member, Lewa Tendai, said the fee dubbed, ‘Green city service fees’ will help in the purchase of the fleet and equipment required to keep the County clean. “We know there will be an outcry but we want to say every function has a cost and the public has not been paying for the same,” said Tendai.
Mombasa residents release 1.1 million tonnes of waste every day to some 80 dump sites and 63 waste transfer stations. Payment for the garbage collection services which were contained in the County Finance Act, 2015 were to be effected from January 1 but have been delayed after the County Assembly went on recess.
Collective responsibility “Homes and institutions will make their payments through the County Mpesa paybill number and will be required to present proof of payment. The expectation to pay is based on a collective responsibility, that waste collection is both a personal and collective responsibility.
Non-compliance of payment means that service levels within our neighbourhoods and transfer stations will continue to look like it does,” the dispatch went on to say. According to the proposal, the county will also register all waste collectors under “The Green City Service Providers Agreement”.
They will be required to follow the laid out environmental standard procedure in the handling of waste failure to which they will incur a fine or face deregistration. All building owners will also be required to paint their property according to the County Pantone colour codes established under City by-Laws.
Meanwhile, cartels that had taken over the Dandora dumpsite, blocking the Nairobi city government access resulting to a pile-up of garbage in the City streets have been removed by the National Youth Service (NYS). The City County government sought the help of the NYS after goons closed roads to collect levies.
Administration director Stephen Mutunga said NYS will hire 1,350 area youth and integrate them into the programme. “As NYS, we have decided to chip in as we have the manpower to make the city a better place while the City Government has been overwhelmed by the task,” said Mutunga.
He added that the NYS has deployed eight trucks, two tippers and two excavators to help clear the John Osogo road leading to the dumpsite which violent goons had closed.
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