Nema Director General Mamo Boru says Kenyans must take responsibility to ensure that their environment is clean and not wait for others to do the cleaning for them.
“Kenyans being litigious people, we currently have 362 cases against Nema. Some are frivolous and a waste of court time,” he said.
Speaking on Friday during the 7th Editors Guild Annual Convention in Nakuru, Boru said Kenya lacks action from its Citizens.
“We have enacted several regulations in managing the environment. Most of the time Kenyans will say ni haki yetu and forget they have to take care of the environment,” he said.
“When I was on my way I saw someone rolling down the window and throwing out waste. We must take responsibility and manage our waste.“
Boru urged the media to amplify matters to do with Environment in their channels.
“What we lack is the citizen action. The media should amplify this. Environmental reporting is not given precedence in the first pages of the newspapers,” he said.
“If we look at the global communities, we are faced with climate change which is an existential threat to farmers and pastoralists and also pollution.”
He said Kenyans emit 0.5kg of waste daily.
“For 50 million Kenyans, we generate about 500,000 tonnes every day. 60 per cent of it is organic but as a country, we do not have an organic plant,” he said.
Buru says 30 per cent of the waste Is recyclables, and 10 per cent are electronic waste.
“Most of these will end up in dumping sites. This is our environment, our life and our responsibility,” he said.
