27th Nov 2012 Speech from Odhiambo T Oketch during the Breakfast Meeting for Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture- MESHA, at the Stanley Hotel Friends, Kenya will be celebrating 50 years of our Independence on the 1st of June 2013, and we will be going for a General Election on the 4th March as well. These are great milestones that we must celebrate as a country. They will prove to the entire World that indeed we are a great people and our time on the World Stage has also arrived.  Oto attending an International Workshop at Silver Springs Hotel in Nairobi- running from the 26th- 29th Nov 2012 and supported by Freedom House
In the intervening period, Parliament is going to be prorogued and all hell is going to break loose. How prepared are we to receive this group of men and women amongst our midst? This meeting hence comes at a critical time and I must thank Ms Farida Karoney and Ms Violet Otindo for the introduction they gave me to this group. I must also thank Mr. Dan Aghan- the Executive Secretary of MESHA and Madam Lorna Nyaga for extending an invitation to me. As Journalists covering issues of Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture, it must be real tough for you to compete for Prime Time Coverage with other Journalists covering issues of Insecurity and Politics. Because, our Prime Time News is now only awash with Insecurity and Politics, yet, Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture is the next frontier for National Development! We must say NO and box ourselves in the front as the alternative platform upon which our Nation can be salvaged. Politics has driven us almost down the precipice. We have almost lost our pride just because our politicians are very shameless and they are not afraid that they know very little. If they were smart, Kenya would not be where we are now. Look at the state of our physical environment; can you be happy traversing the World and holding your heads high that you are a leader from Kenya? Look at how dirty our Towns are, and yet, garbage management has never been rocket science. We are only shifting waste and garbage from one point to another. Dumping has never been an applicable science. Dumping will never solve our current mis-management of waste.  Oto in a Clean-up at Kongowea in February 2012 with the Deputy Town Clerk Mombasa Ms Ngowa and the Director of Environment Mombasa Mr. MS Bilafif
Waste Management, applied well, will create massive employment opportunities for our people. It will help place bread on the Family tables, pay school fee for our children and afford us descent housing. Waste is going to produce the next Billionaire in Africa, but it will not happen by itself. We must engage in practical steps that make waste a Transformative Agenda for this Country as we prepare to vote on the 4th March 2013, as we prepare to celebrate our 50 years of Independence as an Independent Country and as we aspire to realize Vision 2030. Nairobi is the Capital City of Kenya and by all standards, Nairobi ought to set the standards for all the other Towns. But Nairobi is being let down by lethargic leadership at the Department of Environment at the City Council of Nairobi. Nairobi has a population of almost 4 million people generating 2,400 metric tones per day. The Department of Environment at the City Council of Nairobi has a work force of almost 600 people employed to manage this waste. And they have 8 working Garbage Collection Trucks. This has made the Council to Contract 20 Private Garbage Collection Trucks at a cost of Kshs 40 Million per month. Is this prudent management of Public Resources, and is this the best way to go about it? I bet not. But because Garbage has become big business, the mandarins managing the Department of Environment at the City Council of Nairobi have realized that the more garbage we have in our streets the more money they make for themselves; not by managing waste, but by competing for Contracts on Waste Management. This is why we are paying a small cartel Kshs 40 Million every month for not collecting garbage. I would like to challenge you as I invite you to action. No one will save us from this waste menace, impunity, greed, corruption, hate and opportunism as exhibited amongst us. And Waste Management must present us with the platform upon which we will rally Kenyans to issues that unite us as One People under God, create harmony amongst ourselves and make us vote in leaders, not scavengers. You must rise to the occasion and help deliver Kenya. Your sphere is the next frontier for National Development and we must rally Kenyans to come together and see the immense opportunities that Waste, Science, Health and Agriculture presents to us as a people. Who said that we all relegate leadership to political leadership only? We have many cadres of leadership right from the Family Unit, to the Neighbourhood Associations, to the Markets, Schools, Religious, Professionals and all. Yet, we have relegated all these Leaderships and only given prominence to one cadre of Leadership. From this meeting, we must start asking the hard questions on leadership and juxtapose the same with what Environment, Science, Health and Agricultural Leadership can offer this Country. We must ask how did Dandora happen? And why are we obsessed with endless studies on waste and dump sites? You are the ambassadors who can turn this Country around. And we must create an Alternative Platform that will inform the voting patterns for Kenyans, devoid of tribalism, impunity, greed and money. May the good Lord bless you, and may God Bless The Clean Kenya Campaign and God Bless Kenya. A Clean Kenya is our Dream and we must all work for it in our own ways. Now, look at this Petition and if you are agreeable to its content, sign and help disseminate the same far and wide;http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/removing-the-director-of-environment-at-ccn-from-office.html Let us Move From Talking to Tasking as we Stay with the Issues garbage. Let us all work for a Clean Kenya and a Clean Africa as a Transformative Deliverable as we turn 50 in Kenya.
Odhiambo T Oketch,
Executive Director, The Clean Kenya Campaign- TCKC, Tel; 0724 365 557, Email; komarockswatch@yahoo.com
Blogspot; http://kcdnkomarockswatch. blogspot.com
Website; www.kcdnkenya.org
Facebook;University Students for a Clean Kenya, Facebook; Odhiambo T Oketch
Facebook; Monthly Nationwide Clean up Campaign
Mailing Group; friendsofkcdn@ yahoogroups.com The Clean Kenya Campaign is an Initiative of The KCDN Kenya Note; due to time constraint, I never delivered this speech. I only talked briefly and covered some of the salient issues | 
Oto attending an International Workshop at Silver Springs Hotel in Nairobi- running from the 26th- 29th Nov 2012 and supported by Freedom House
Oto in a Clean-up at Kongowea in February 2012 with the Deputy Town Clerk Mombasa Ms Ngowa and the Director of Environment Mombasa Mr. MS Bilafif
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