Mombasa drains sewerage into ocean, minister told

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By Ngumbao Kithi

The Ministry of Public Health was thrown into a spin after it emerged Mombasa empties raw effluent into the Indian Ocean.

Public Health Minister Beth Mugo expressed ‘shock’ yesterday when she was informed the town of more than a million people does not have an operational sewage treatment plant.

Mombasa Municipal Council Public Health officer Swaleh Chidagaya said only two such facilities existed in the island several years ago and have since collapsed.

"In this island, we do not have working sewerage facilities and all the waste is normally emptied into the sea," Chidagaya said, when the minister visited the Mombasa Municipal Council yesterday.

Mugo said the recent outbreak of cholera in the town should not surprise since "the town lacks a sewage treatment system".

She said the issue would be handled at an inter-ministerial level.

"I think the best way to deal with this serious problem is to have all relevant ministries to come together and have it addressed as soon as possible, this must never be left to continue," she said.

The minister said efforts to fight the cholera outbreak in Mombasa would face serious challenges because the town lacks a sewerage system. She demanded that the Government must address the problem urgently without delay.

The minister said the H1N1 Influenza A (swine flu) seems to have overshadowed cholera outbreak, which remains one of the most serious challenges of her ministry.

Dr Chidagaya said the Government set up a committee to resolve the matter during the international marathon held in 2006, but nothing came out of it.

Costly bickering

He said bickering over management of the Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company had denied the Coast Water Board, which is responsible for sewerage, funds to build sewerage facilities.

World Bank declined to fund the project until a board is created for the initiative.

" All the waste in the Island is normally emptied into the sea by gravity because we do not have a sewerage system," he said.

Mugo instructed senior health officials to find an urgent solution to the problem.

"I have decided that a committee that has been working on this matter headed by Coast Public Health officer Anisa Omar must come up with measures to secure the water for public consumption in two weeks," she said.

The minister said the ministry has no intention to close down institutions that provide services to the public, but warned any institution that failed to meet certain standards would be closed down.

Emptying of raw waste into the seas is against environmental laws.

When raw sewage spills into beaches, they are supposed to be closed.

The National Environmental Management Authority is yet to speak out on the issue.