Human activities have been singled out as the major enemies of the environment, Executive Committee Member (ECM) for Devolution at Makueni County Government Mr. Japheth Mang’oka has said. Consequently, Mang’oka lamented that people were responsible of tilling up to river banks besides initiating factories in some areas without following due diligence as required by law leading to degradation of the environment. The ECM also disclosed that some factories especially in Athi harvesting soil from Makueni to make tiles have left big gullies in the area that posed danger to people and animals while adding that others were emitting a foul smell to the atmosphere that impacts negatively to living things. ‘There is a factory in Athi harvesting soil from Kilungu to make tiles. They have left behind huge gullies that pose a danger to people and animals,’ said Mang’oka while launching officially the Makueni County Environment Committee (CEC) on Tuesday in a hotel in Wote town. In this regard, he reminded the CEC members that it was their responsibility to ensure that factories and dams being constructed besides other human activities being undertaken in the county follow due diligence as per the laws and regulations laid out by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). ‘You need to be careful as a committee to manage the environment by ensuring you know all the kind of human activity being undertaken to avert a crisis within an area so that the environment is conserved,’ he posed. The CEC members were being inducted on their roles in a two-day workshop that was organized by the Department of Environment and Climate Change whereby the ECM of the Department Dr. Nzonia Nzilani is the chairperson of the committee in the county. Officers from NEMA headquarters in the Education Department who included Eric Deche and Peter Wefwafwa and Makueni County NEMA Director Vincent Oloo Ochieng were facilitators of the workshop. The members were also taught of their functions, institutional framework, policy frameworks, public participation and planning and decision making among other topics relevant to the devolved environment functions. Addressing the same event, Makueni County Commissioner (CC) Mr. Kaburu Kaimba urged the committee to conduct intensive campaigns to the grass root in a bid to eliminate the use of polythene bags which was rampant in the area. At the same time, he asked the residents going to buy any goods from supermarkets or markets to have their own bags to carry their belongings saying eliminating polythene use is a collective responsibility. ‘Let us not politicise the use of polythene bags. This is what is littering our environment in our major towns like Emali, Mtito Andei and Wote. As civil servants and residents, we need to eliminate the use polythene bags,’ he noted. On the ongoing rains, the administrator advised farmers to take advantage and plant crops like sorghum and green grams using the subsidised fertilizer to increase food production in the area. On her part, Dr. Nzilani urged the community representatives to bring forth the issues affecting wananchi from their respective jurisdictions with an aim of taking measures to avert a crisis.

Source: Kenya News Agency