Dirty money: Is City Hall ‘eating’ from garbage?

Claims that some mandarins have turned garbage collection into a goldmine and that the contract for cleaning services is marred with corruption are emitting a noxious stench within City Hall.

Some streets and alleys, especially in downtown Nairobi, are choking with human waste, garbage and the strong odour of decay. Some of the notorious streets and lanes include Latema, Accra, Ufungamano, Ronald Ngala, River Road, Kirinyanga, Tsavo, Uyoma, Race Course, Keekorok, and Hakati.

The mess is worsened by the throng of hawkers, street families and the haphazard handling and disposal of waste by hotels, bars, clinics, printing firms and learning institutions in the area.

Undesignated areas

Our investigations have revealed that rogue commercial premises in the CBD also dispose garbage in undesignated areas and deserted buildings. At the Hakati bus station for instance, mounds of garbage generated by hawkers, PSV drivers, conductors and passengers are evident. Some unoccupied buildings along Kirinyaga Road have been turned into dumping sites by garages.

Yet seven months ago, when the Nairobi City County and Creative Consolidated Systems Limited signed a contract to return Nairobi to its glorious days of the ‘Green City in the Sun,’ the projection was that by now, the CBD would have waste-free streets and lanes.

Creative Consolidated is supposed to sweep all roads, car parks, off street and on street walk ways, lanes, flowerbeds and footpaths and dispose the junk in approved sites. But months on, parts of the CBD remain filthy.

The Nairobi County Business District Association (NCBDA) blames the situation on disorganisation at the Department of Environment and is now questioning the rationale behind awarding the cleaning contract to a “single company without the capacity to deliver.”

Commitment to work

“We gave the governor time to address the problem, but we are now planning to meet him in the next one week because the situation is serious. That company cannot deliver and it is not doing its work properly. Even the areas that are clean are not as a result of the work of the company, since it lacks commitment,” charged NCBDA chairman David Gachuru.

With a staff of about 150, Creative Consolidated committed to “trim and clear all storm water, open earth or channelised drains of any growth and debris to free flow conditions.” But the onset of short rains, swelling number of hawkers and street families has exposed the company’s Achilles heel amid claims that it has reduced the number of staff and is too overstretched to cope with the workload.

From an initial 150-strong work force spread across the entire CDB, the number has allegedly reduced to less than 100, according to a supervisor in the Department of Environment. Another source claims the number of staff was reduced to set aside money for bribing a clique of City Hall officials, claims Creative Consolidated CEO Andrew Onyach dismisses.

Hawkers and street urchins

Onyach counters that the company has increased its workforce by 25 and now has 175 workers who are on duty 24 hours. Instead, he blames hawkers and street urchins in the lower CBD areas of Tom Mboya Street, Luthuli Avenue, River Road, Kirinyaga Road and Ronald Ngala Street for the mess.

“Some areas are dirty because of hawkers and urchins. No matter how much you do, the work is soon rendered futile by street vendors and children who continuously litter the roads. On the upper CBD, there is some order, unlike on the lower side,” said Onyach.

He also denied allegations that he had reduced staff in order to bribe City Hall officials and insisted that he was operating an above-board business.

Rule 23 (c) of the contract agreement states that the employer (City Hall) shall forward the name of the contractor, if found to have engaged in fraudulent claims, to the director general of Public Procurement Oversight Authority for consideration of debarment from bidding for similar services or work in future.

“The contractor shall at all times during the performance of his contract provide personnel employed to engage in street sweeping, collection of litter and emptying bins that shall not exceed or be less than 150 persons. Any additional personnel shall be authorised by the employer in writing and upon request by the contractor,” states rule 18.

A number of complaints

The waste collection firm has raised a number of complaints which it claims are hampering its operations in the CBD. Key among them is insecurity and the high rate of tear and wear of its fleet of vehicles that have attracted a huge repair bill at CMC Motors.

In a September 24 letter to County Secretary Lilian Ndegwa, Onyach complains of harassment by urchins, hawkers and matatu touts in zones 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7. The intimidation that apparently resulted in the injury of one of his stewards after he was attacked by urchins is most pronounced at night, according to the CEO.

“Our prayer therefore, is to request for your urgent indulgence so as to curtail further injuries to our staff. It is evident that your enforcement team is not doing enough to stop this menace. Perhaps they need to come up with a consistent strategy of addressing this challenge and not one-off swoops as has been the practice,” stated Oyach.

In another letter, also dated September 24, Onyach complains that service delivery is hampered by frequent breakdown of his trucks due to the poor state of the Dandora dump site. He writes that each week, two of the trucks have to be taken to CMC for repairs. The firm has a fleet of nine trucks.

“Even if we were to add our fleet of trucks over and above the existing ones, the situation will remain the same because of the damage to our trucks. We recommend an urgent attention to the dump site as a solution to this challenge,” wrote the CEO.

Director of Environment, Isaac Muraya, declined to comment on the matter, referring us instead to chief officer in charge of environment and forestry, Dr Leah Oyake-Ombis.