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NYS take over garbage collection in Nairobi


The National Youth Service took over this week to rid the city of garbage, with the government assuring residents that the waste posing a threat to their health would be cleared.

Newly appointed Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Youth and Gender Sicily Kariuki cut her holiday short to launch the garbage collection exercise by NYS on Monday.

Heaps of garbage have made lives for thousands of people in the city unbearable after the Nairobi County Government failed to clear the waste over several factors including internal wrangles among top officials.

City Hall entered into a partnership with the NYS following a public outcry. Private contractors licensed by the county government to collect and dispose the waste had started dumping it on the streets and even in the Central Business District.

Some county officials blamed the mess on rivalry between the contractors while others faulted heavy rains they said have made access roads to the Dandora dumpsite impassable.

Contractors on the other hand complained of gangs at the dumpsite who demand money to allow them dispose of the waste.

But it has emerged that senior officials in the environment department have not been working in harmony as some blame others for licensing companies they own to collect garbage.

Mrs Kariuki led the NYS servicemen and women to collect garbage from the popular Muthurwa and Wakulima markets and Kibera assisted by 62 hired youths.

The NYS on Thursday took over Dandora dumpsite in a bid to get rid of the gangs of youths who have been harassing contractors dumping waste.