Volunteers in Awendo town during the cleanup
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) officials in Migori County today led residents of Awendo town on an intense clean up exercise as part of their sensitization efforts for a better
The one-day exercise performed in partnership with the Red-cross and the department of environment follows a move by the government to ban plastic bags that have been identified as the worst environmental degrading litters in the country.
According to the County director of NEMA Mr. Parnwell Simitu, the organization plans to hold a series of clean up exercises in various towns and markets with a view to mop up all the plastic litter.
He said Awendo town was prioritised in the NEMA cleanup programme because of the huge effect of the polythene bags and the many hazardous chemicalS from the nearby Sony Sugar factory that poses great danger to the lives of the local people.
“We came to Awendo town to conduct this noble exercise in order to allow members of the public realize the need for environment conservation and keep their surrounding clean, ” said Simitu.
Sony Sugar factory, he noted, had been emitting fumes to the environment and also making the town dirtier compared to other town in the larger Migori County.
He said that the plastic bags ban will still enforced in all the trading centers in the county and asked the residents comply with the ban by seeking other options to carry their goods from the markets.
The Kenya Red Cross representative for Migori County Ms. Jane Ooro said that the environment management is a crucial aspect in the growth and development of human beings and the organization found it worth teaming up with other stakeholders to work for good sanitation within towns and homesteads.
She welcomed the ban on polythene bags and praised Migori people on how they had fast embraced the directive.
However, the Red-cross official asked the environment authorities to engage the National Youth Service (NYS)
to help in cleaning up all the plastic litter in the region.
“An incentive should also be given to people who will deliver the nylon papers to designated points,” she suggested.
County environment officer Alfred Otieno said that the environment aspect in the county had been neglected by many stakeholders who have ignored the conservation aspect in the various parts of Migori County.
“However, the biggest obstacle is the imports of from China, which are wrapped in nylon and which the government is now battling by all means to compel a stop,” he said.
