From: odhiambo okecth
Friends,
Tomorrow, the World will be celebrating The World Environment Day whose theme this time around is; Green Economy- does it include you? In Nairobi, we will be joining hands to clean Jogoo and Landhies Roads before heading for an Exhibition and Tree Planting at The Star of Hope Primary School in Viwandani in Industrial Area.
In celebrating this day, we at The Clean Kenya Campaign-TCKC are focused on a Clean Kenya. A Clean Kenya comes in many ways, and we believe that we must start from the physical.
We have been mobilizing Kenyans to help in making our immediate neighbourhoods clean with tremendous success- www.kcdnkenya.org. This was a well thought out process that we are implementing in phases. The first phase was to include as many people in the actual act of cleaning.
The next phase will involve separation of waste at source as a serious economic activity for our people. As we celebrate this day, we want to call Kenyans to action and to account for our time.
A call to action includes your being responsible for the waste that you generate. Take a walk across our markets and you will not want to eat any market produce. Our markets are dirty- right from the Wakulima Market in Nairobi, Kongowea Market in Mombasa, Kibuye Market in Kisumu to all the markets across Kenya.
We are asking; what is it that we are getting so wrong? Why must we have such dirty markets yet, in our midst, we have men and women well trained to handle such issues for us? We must address this problem in two fronts. The people must know the worth of waste and to this extent, we must handle our waste in the best way possible.
Again, the Public Officers must do their work. We need you in the trenches with the people offering practical suggestions on how waste can be converted to wealth. We need no theories about waste management.
Then we have leaders whom we elect to public office every 5 years. I laugh when I hear aspirants talking about tackling the waste menace in Nairobi- that they will make electric power out of our waste! These are mere rhetorics meant to wood wink us. We need practical actions started in small measure. Actions that we can look at and say, yes, this guy means business.
We need to set up waste recycling plants across Kenya. This is the only way we will manage our waste and at the same time create jobs and wealth. We cannot manage our waste from mere wishful thinking aimed at attracting votes.
Waste has been big business for a few in Kenya. The more we live in filth and squalor the better for this class. And as we celebrate The World Environment Day, can we make a resolve as a people that we will manage our own waste; That we will work closely with the various Councils and NEMA across Kenya to find a lasting solution to waste and waste management.
Can we make a resolve that we will all join in making Kenya Clean, and that we will start with managing waste right from our household?
It is with this in mind that we are inviting all Friends of Kenya and Friends of the Environment, to join us tomorrow at 7.00am as we join hands to clean Jogoo and Landhies Roads.
And to this end, I want to salute the various Councils in Kenya who have made Clean-ups a concept worth working with.
I want to salute NEMA Nairobi for standing tall and working with us in The Clean Kenya Campaign.
I want to salute the various offices in Government who have worked with us in The Clean Kenya Campaign.
And I want to salute the People of Kenya for your resolve. You have made The Clean Kenya Campaign the success story in Kenya. We only need to make it stronger.
Waste is wealth and we must live it.
Odhiambo T Oketch,
Executive Director,
The Clean Kenya Campaign- TCKC
Tel; 0724 365 557,
Blogspot; http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com
The Clean Kenya Campaign; Website-www.kcdnkenya.org