Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has reaffirmed his administration's dedication to tackling the city's waste issue with a robust approach. He emphasized this commitment while defending the city's garbage collection system as effective.
“What we have done is that we have built the county’s internal capacity to collect this garbage. We have procured 50 skip tracks, 10 skip loaders, 24 tippers that have come in and 24 refuse compactors for us to build our capacity,’’ he said.
During a Tuesday night interview with Citizen TV, Sakaja stressed his administration's resolve to enact radical measures to effectively address the garbage problem, especially at the Dandora dumpsite.
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Sakaja defended the county's preference for private sector involvement in garbage collection, emphasizing the focus on enhancing internal capacity rather than outsourcing services. He pointed out that the county has already contracted a Chinese firm to convert the Dandora dumpsite into a power plant, utilizing garbage as a raw material.
“We have awarded a waste-to-energy to China International Electrical Engineering Company that is going to convert the waste at Dandora dumpsite into 45 megawatts of power,” Governor Sakaja said.
“They will also help us because that then becomes their raw material. There are countries that actually export garbage,’’ he noted.
“It was just business. So you pay people and contractors would be paid on the weight of garbage at the disposal site which is Dandora,’’ he said arguing that the tonnes were being inflated.
“A lot of these bills were untenable if you calculate the weight they are charging as if you collect 9,000 tonnes of garbage every day yet we know Nairobi’s production is about 3,000 tonnes of garbage every day.’’
In addition to bolstering internal capacity, Sakaja mentioned that the county has enlisted a team of 3,500 young individuals, known as the Green Army, to collect garbage and conduct clean-up activities throughout the city.
The governor highlighted that the Green Army is revolutionizing the concept of sanitation in the capital, with a primary emphasis on sub-county levels.
“Everywhere you go, you will see young people called the Green Army. The green army is the biggest environmental employment of young people in Nairobi. The last time that we had young people who sweep our streets and collect garbage was in the 1980s,’’ Sakaja said.
“Before the green army, you would find a constituency like Embakasi West to Embakasi East, from Utawala to Mihang’o to Donholm, having three or four elderly people who are now about to retire supposed to collect garbage.’’
