Polluters face Sh4 million fine in planned legislation

Economy

Sunday, January 6, 2019 22:00

By EDWIN MUTAI

Individuals who dump waste face up to four years in jail or a fine of up to Sh4 million if MPs enact a bill.

The proposed law seeks to curb the growing pollution problems for Kenya’s air, soil and water.

The maximum levels for environmental fines levied by counties are low and failed to discourage dumping of wastes, risking harming human health and the environment.

“A person who commits an offence under this Act or regulations made thereunder…shall be liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than four years, or to a fine not less than Sh2 million and not more than Sh4 million, or to both such fine and imprisonment,” says the National Sustainable Waste Management Bill drafted by the Ministry of Environment.

The proposal also imposes a Sh5 million fine on public and private entities that do not manage their waste in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

Corporate entities will be compelled to clean up and restore the site the entity was using to its natural state.

The bill also says chief executives of the polluting companies face jail terms of up to four years upon conviction. “Public and private entities that do not manage their waste in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be required to clean up and restore the site the entity was using to its natural state and pay a fine of not less 5 per cent of their net income registered in the previous tax year, or Sh5 million, whichever is higher."

Alternatively the CEO of the polluting company "shall upon conviction be subject to a term of up to four years in jail, or to both.”

The bill defines waste as any material that is abandoned or discarded and is required to be disposed of by its holder whether or not such substance can be re-used or recycled.

The list includes municipal and domestic waste, those from agriculture, horticultural waste, aquaculture, forestry waste, biomedical, hazardous, industrial waste, pesticides and toxic substances.

The ministry said the transition to zero waste status will be done through minimised waste generation, separation at source, enhanced waste collection, re-use, recycling and disposal of unusable waste to secure sanitary landfills.

Kenya has been grappling with the burden of pollution, especially in the cities where littering has become the order of the day.

It continues to be an eyesore with the see-sawing of yearly budgets, limited public education and thin expertise to recycle waste, although the latter goal has been a pet subject of the national government and Nairobi County.

In August 2017, Kenya made a recognisable step by banning plastic bags, one of the heavy polluters that had made flooding and drainage systems worse.