Dear Friends, Now that the President and his Deputy are set to name their Government, there is a lot of expectations from the public. We are expecting the same kind of public overhaul from our Governors as well. We will be celebrating our Silver Jubilee on the 1st June 2013 and sadly, our Towns and Cities are clogged with dirt, garbage and waste at every open space you can come across. Our drainage systems are clogged and when it rains like it does now, water flows freely across our roads and fields, leading to massive infrastructural damage even as our people get displaced from their homes. We have been with these problems for the last 50 years and it is time we make a break with the past. The President is set to break from the past by naming a completely new Team to help him run the business of Government and we are expecting the Governors to also name a complete new set of Directors to help them run the County Governments. And like our Deputy President William Ruto likes saying, we must not engage in guess works. We must make some things happen. Clean Cities and Towns will never just happen by themselves. Sure and planned interventions must be put in place to enable us move from this culture of guess work. Our various Directors of Environment are engaging in management by guess work and it will never achieve any results.  Clean up Campaign organized at Kongowea by The Clean Africa Campaign, our Partners and the Mombasa City County
The success of any institution rests with the ability of the Head and in our case, the cleanliness or lack of the same in a Town or City is judged by the performance of the Director of Environment. He or she has been the face of the Council in Waste and Garbage Management and as such, they will remain the faces of the County Governments. If they have failed to manage Garbage and Waste in the past, nothing new will be expected from them. And the Governors must listen to their advice very carefully lest we continue with the past culture of anything goes.
When we kow-tow to the whims and timelines in Waste Management as dictated by the reactionary forces of the vested interest groups, we will never win the War on Garbage and Waste in Kenya. The War on Garbage and Waste cannot be won by bottling up knowledge, or by going it alone the way some Directors have behaved. We must borrow from best practices and many examples abound. Rwanda has won the War on Garbage and Waste by encouraging everybody to be a player. Every 4th Saturday of the Month, everybody, and this includes even the President, join hands in Omuganda Day and this has ensured that every person becomes responsible with how you tend to your neighbourhood. In Rwanda, the Directors of Environment never boast of the various Degrees they have. They show case their knowledge through action and as soon as you land in Kigali, you immediately realize that we have a Sheriff in Town- one who knows what Waste Management is all about. They have perfected the art of public participation to an extent that every one feels guilty throwing anything down like we carelessly do. In Gambia, human urine is in great demand and no one urinates carelessly like we do here in Kenya. Urine is bottled and sold out for conversion. And someone ensures that this is done. In our case in Kenya, the implementing authority is by law given to the Director of Environment and he or she must ensure compliance and greater public participation.
We at The Clean Africa Campaign- http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com have been in the front line inviting Kenyans to actively participate in working for a Clean Kenya by 1st June 2013 as we celebrate our 50 Years of Independence. Now that we have Governors in charge of our Counties, we know this can be achieved if they overhaul the Teams watering the vested interests from their Counties. It is very simple; just cross check the performance of the various Directors of Environment and seek for answers. Like in Nairobi, can we be told what Kshs 40m being paid to contracted garbage truck owners does every month?
Why have we been unable to collect any waste from our streets and neighbourhoods even as we pay out Kshs 40m every Month for exactly this? Why have we been unable to convert waste in to wealth? We all know that plastic- a major pollutant across the World, is a raw material for making fencing poles and more. Why are the Directors of Environment not engaging in public awareness campaigns to sensitize the various waste collectors about this? We all know that if waste is separated at source, her premium increases. Why have the Directors of Environment never insisted on separation of waste at source as a first step to waste management? We all know the value of paper, food remains, human feaces, urine and the other various waste streams. But as a people, we cannot enforce the laws on waste management. The buck stops with the Directors of Environment and their Teams. And in Kenya, these Teams have failed us. Why are they very slow in inviting Corporate Partnerships that can invest in the various Waste Streams? These are issues the Governors must address even as the vested interest groups dig in.
They have now shed their previous images and are busy trying to please the Governors with dead ideas- ideas that have never worked for Kenya in the past. However, we at The Clean Africa Campaign are pleased with the performance of the Directors of Environment at Kisumu and Eldoret. They have taken a pro-active approach to Waste Management and they have even included public participation to help solve our perenial problem with waste and garbage. In Kisumu, the Director and the People of Kisumu have formed KICOCEN- and every 3rd Saturday of the Month, they bring together many Teams in a Monthly Clean-up and Awareness Campaign.  Members of the Public joining in a Clean up and Awareness Campaign staged at Kondele in Kisumu in Partnership with the Kisunu City County and KICOCEN
In Eldoret, the Director of Environment and the People have formed Eldoret Green City Initiative and they are also jointly hosting Monthly Clean-up and Awareness Campaigns across Eldoret every 3rd Saturday of the Month. These are positive interventions that we must uphold and appreciate. Kisumu is rapidly becoming the cleanest City in Kenya even as Nairobi grows deeper in filth. And this is the paradox of our times. We have faith that Machakos is on the right track and with an assertive Governor, the Town is in for major surprises and we are wishing them well.
We still have about 40 Days to Kenya celebrating our 50 years of Independence and we at The Clean Africa Campaign do firmly believe that within this time, we can at least remove the daily eye-sores from our midst in Nairobi. But it will need the direct intervention of the Governor because, the Director of Environment in Nairobi has proved grossly incompetent and unable to address the question of waste in the Capital City of Kenya.  We must invoke Polluter Pay Principle to address such carelessness. Each manufacturer can be made to join in keeping our Cities Clean
We need a Clean City and on this we will never relent. Even the Law is on our side; Article 42 of our Constitution says this; Every person has the right to a clean and healthy environment... Article 69 (1) The State shall-----(d) encourage public participation in the management, protection and conservation of the environment.
Then we are given room to seek for Judicial intervention when such rights are flaunted or infringed upon at Article 22 (1) and at Article 70 (1). This is the Law and we are going to play our Public Oversight role with vigour and dedication as we invite all Kenyans to join with us in this Journey of Hope across Kenya. Time for guesswork is over. We must roll our sleeves and clean our Towns and Cities.
Peace and blessings as we work for a Clean Kenya, a Clean Africa and a Better World.
Odhiambo T Oketch, Executive Director, The Clean Africa Campaign-TCAC. Tel; +254 724 365 557 mailto:oto@kcdnkenya.org http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com/ http://www.kcdnkenya.org | 
Clean up Campaign organized at Kongowea by The Clean Africa Campaign, our Partners and the Mombasa City County
Members of the Public joining in a Clean up and Awareness Campaign staged at Kondele in Kisumu in Partnership with the Kisunu City County and KICOCEN
We must invoke Polluter Pay Principle to address such carelessness. Each manufacturer can be made to join in keeping our Cities Clean
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