You risk jail if caught littering, illegally dumping garbage in city

You will henceforth be fined Sh200,000 or be jailed for two years, or both, if found littering or illegally dumping garbage within Nairobi county.

This is after the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) formed a team to start enforcing regulations on solid waste management in Nairobi, which prescribes a fine or imprisonment for illegal dumping or littering.

The team, which will be made up of regular and administration police officers and officers from NMS drawn from all the 17 sub-Counties of Nairobi, will be responsible for cracking the whip on illegal dumping of waste and littering in the capital city.

According to Nairobi City County Solid Waste Management Act, 2015 section 36(2 and 3), any person who dumps, causes, or allows waste disposal in any premises, land or any other place not approved for such disposal is guilty of an offence and is liable of a fine not exceeding Sh200,000 or in default, to imprisonment not exceeding two years or to both.

“The officers will oversee the enforcement with punitive measures to be taken against those who dump garbage illegally or litter the capital. A team of NMS officers, government administration officers and police service will lead the enforcement exercise by cracking the whip on those who have been illegally dumping waste and littering the capital,” said NMS.

“Every household, business, individual should be responsible for the waste they generate,” added the communication from the new office.

The new development comes after NMS accused City Hall of being behind the “saboteurs and detractors” strewing the heaps of garbage that have made a comeback in the capital.

“As saboteurs and detractors heap garbage on timelines, NMS and the people of Nairobi desirous and cognizant of their role in a clean environment are at work each day collecting 3,000 tonnes against meagre kilos collected in the past,” read a post by NMS on Monday.

This was after Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko criticised the Major General Mohammed Badi-led administration over increasing piles of garbage in various areas across the county chiding it for failing Nairobi residents by leaving them to choke in mounds of garbage.

However, NMS partly blamed the presence of garbage in some parts of the city on the City Hall boss’ failure to pay garbage contractors and frustrating NMS’s effort to engage the contractors by holding onto their contracts.

“City Hall has also held onto contracts of garbage contractors making it hard for NMS to access them,” read a statement from NMS.

Nonetheless, City Hall scoffed at the claims saying NMS should carry “its own cross” and stop making Mr Sonko the scapegoat.

Governor Sonko’s spokesperson Ben Mulwa argued that since environment was a transferred function under the deed of transfer agreement, then it is the duty of the NMS to address the garbage menace.

“Contracts do not collect garbage. The county government signed a MoU with NYS in December last year to collect garbage, what happened to that? Has the governor taken over the garbage trucks or grounded them?” posed Mr Mulwa.

“Today, Nairobi is dirtier than it was eight months ago. There is no politics at play Nairobi is very dirty. The garbage has been piling in the mentioned places for months and it is not a one-off thing,” he added.