SEPTEMBER 25, 2018 www.mygov.go.ke NEWSFOCUS | 17 WORLD HABITAT DAY Municipal Solid Waste Management Chairperson, Council of Governors committee on water forestry and mining solid waste management chain from waste generation, minimization and transportation to disposal. Mike Mbuvi Sonko H.E. the Governor Nairobi City County Government Nairobi, an economic hub of Kenya and the rest of East and Central African region is like many cities in Africa experiencing rapid population growth. Its high population of visitors and inhabitants with varied lifestyles are producing increasing quantity and complexities of waste. In order to mitigate the negative impacts of the resultant waste, My Government came into power and has resolved allinclusive approach to solving the challenges of solid waste. With the current dispensation that entrenches public participation in our Constitution, the City County government is determined to involve all stakeholders particularly in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the City’s municipal solid wastes management on a sustainable basis. The overarching objective is to promote best practices and attitudes at all stages of the Similarly, in the spirit of cooperation Nairobi City County Government is working closely with the National Government in a time bound face-lifting initiative dubbed ‘Nairobi Regeneration Programme’. It brings together the comparative competencies and resources of the two governments and their agencies to ensure that all glaring acts and effects of omissions and commissions are addressed. This will particularly set tempo for the two governments and their agencies as they revert to exercising their roles in protecting the shared environment by clearing solid waste accumulations both on land and in riparian areas. The City’s cleanliness is set to be maintained by advocating for individual responsibility through participation in community clean-ups. In fact, I launched the Monthly ward-based clean-ups that are conducted on every first Saturday themed ‘My Waste My Responsibility’ on 7th July 2018. For the first time in history, Nairobians came out in all the 85 wards to cleanup their environment. Among our sustainable achievements thanks to collaboration with stakeholders in the clearing of illegal dumps and reclaiming of the open spaces. This entails Secretary Housing, State Department for Housing and Urban Development The State department for Housing and Urban Development which hosts the National Secretariat on human settlements work through the National Habitat Committee (NHC) on matters that requires participation if stakeholders in the area of housing and human settlement such as organising for the world habitat day, Kenyan participation in UN Habitat Governing Council, World Urban Forum etc. The committee is broad based and draws its membership from relevant Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, private sector, civil societies, Institutions of higher learning and UN-Habitat amongst others. The committee held several preparatory meetings to steer the successful observance of World Habitat. Forthcoming observance is a culmination of several activities that have been running since September 2018, and will continue in the entire month of October deemed ‘’Urban October ‘’. Some of these activities include Social Media Campaigns, Television Talk Shows, News Features and Clean up exercises among others. Some of the major activities of the day will include UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award to five winners, one of whom is a Kenyan, unveil the community artwork on municipal solid waste management and launch of a global campaign on Waste wise Cities. beautification with greenery and amusement facilities. Kangemi Memorial Park is a great success and you should look out for more sustainable initiatives coming up across the City. Modernization of the Final Solid Waste Disposal facility is underway and very soon open controlled dumping synonymous with Dandora will be a thing of the past. Nairobi City has the biggest slums in the region accommodating the urban poor. Great efforts have been made to improve sanitation, housing and access to better Solid Waste Management services in these residential areas. We appreciate the Community Based Organisations (CBOs) that are mainly comprised of youth who are key players in provision of solid waste services in these settlements. It is now time to streamline the engagement of CBOs so that we can increase waste collection service coverage, eradicate illegal dumping and promote resource recovery. This we shall achieve by building their capacity supported by our stakeholders. I have a dedicated team with the zeal to serve the populace. Let everyone play their respective roles in the care of our shared environment for a better future of us all. As we embrace the spirit of ‘My Waste is My Responsibility’ slogan, Nairobi will in a record time become a City of choice to invest, work and live in. The Council of Governors joins the global fraternity in celebrating the World Habitat Day. We hope that in marking this day, County Governments will engage, address challenges and find sustainable solutions of managing their solid waste. This day calls for forward thinking with regard to future solid waste management because, without question, our greatest accomplishments still lie ahead of us. In Kenya, rapid urbanization is a major contributor to municipal solid waste. The unexpected rural to urban migration has caused burgeoning of slums and the growth of squatters and informal housing all around the rapidly expanding towns and cities in the Counties. This growth in most of our Counties has overwhelmed the capacity of County Government to provide for proper solid waste management solutions. Solid Waste Management which is already a mammoth task in counties is going to be more complicated with the increase in urbanization especially in Nairobi and its larger metropolitan area, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret among other major towns and market centers. County Governments are in the process of putting in place frameworks, policies and infrastructure for the control of municipal solid waste management within their respective jurisdictions. A periodic report by the National Environmental Complaints Committee released on August 24 (2017) reveals a major increase in waste generation and an improvement waste management. For instance, there has been a 50 percent reduction on the generation of solid waste in almost all counties following the ban on plastic bags; this is a clear testimony that a green environment is within reach and also a sign of commitment of the County Governments to deliver on solid waste management. However, there is still so much that needs to be done by the counties including increasing capacity in solid waste management, creating awareness, developing the right laws and policies, obtaining real time data on municipal solid waste and buying the relevant equipment. There is also need for coordination between the National and County Governments to cascade policies from the national level to address the environmental issues. Counties must take responsibility of ensuring participation of all their stakeholders in solid waste management, allocation of adequate financial resources Global Observance of World Habitat Day Date: Monday 1 October 2018 | Venue: UNON, Gigiri, Nairobi Nairobi City County Government on Municipal Solid Waste Management Hon Kiraitu Murungi EGH. Chairperson, Council of Governors committee on water forestry and mining for the same and compliance of rules and regulations governing solid waste management. We call upon County Governments to embrace public-private partnership in environmental management enterprises and accelerate deployment of innovative technologies to combat municipal solid waste and build on emerging efforts. We commit therefore to collaborate with the National Government and key stakeholders in investing and managing solid waste at the Counties. And in addressing these gaps we also call upon the international community to partner with County governments in addressing this great challenge. We take this opportunity to wish you fruitful celebrations during the World Habitat. Patrick Bucha Housing Secretary State Department for Housing and Urban Development We welcome all partners to share their achievements in this and other areas as we celebrate this global observance.
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