Why Nairobi city still choking on garbage

The filth and garbage in your estate, place of work, or some sections of the central business district are attributed to a Sh600 million debt owed to garbage contractors.

In addition, half of the 60 trucks procured by City Hall to aid in the city clean-up efforts have stalled, aggravating the situation.

This was revealed during a session of the county public accounts committee that saw the environment, water and forestry department hard pressed to explain why, despite the purchasing of the trucks, sections of the capital were still grappling with uncollected waste.

“We need to know how many trucks the county owns, their worth, and how many are operational at the moment. Contractors have downed their tools and this poses a lot of risks to Nairobians,” noted Karen MCA David Mberia.

Dandora Phase Three MCA Charles Thuo also took issue with the department, saying it had re-allocated the zones the contractors were to operate in. Thuo pointed out that the contractors had not been allocated zone.

“What were the criteria used to determine that the previous contractors allocated those zones were not competent, necessitating the awarding of the tender to another contractor?” asked Thuo.

The acting chief officer for environment and water, Isaac Muraya, however insisted that the tenders were awarded on merit and that the decision to allocate new service providers was based on reports from sub-county committees.

“The reports received from the sub-counties showed that contractors would collect waste and dump it in other areas and not at the dumpsite, thus we needed to re-allocate the zones to different contractors,” stated Muraya.

Local purchase orders

On the purchase of garbage trucks, the Auditor General said the city had spent Sh47 million on the purchase of five garbage trucks equipped with skippers from Foton Company. What baffled the auditor though was the fact that the purchase was not supported by local purchase orders, invoices, and other vital documents. The purchase was made in the 2015/2016 financial year.

But Muraya claimed that his department had made the documents available to the Auditor General’s office. He also defended the number of operational trucks, citing mechanical failures as the biggest challenge.

Mechanical problems

“The number of operational trucks varies from time to time because they are on and off due to mechanical problems and other reasons,” said the chief officer.

He attributed the trucks' mechanical problems to corrosive waste at the dumpsite. This, he said, hampered efficient service deliver had yet to pay the contractors Sh600 million, citing strained financial resources.

The officer said the situation was not unique to Nairobi as other counties also had pending bills.

“We have pending bills to contractors and suppliers and once those are cleared we will only be engaging in priority contracts that the county is able to pay,” he concluded.

In January, City Hall went to court, saying it could not pay contractors and suppliers debts totaling Sh60 billion without ascertaining that they were legitimate claims.