Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Sunday put on notice hundreds of companies, including two state parastatals, for polluting the Nairobi River.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, Duale revealed that a total of 145 companies operating in the city had been identified as among the notorious polluters of the river that runs across the city.
The 145 companies include 2 state parastatals, the Athi Water Services and the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company, which were blamed for running sewer lines just beneath the river bed, raising serious environmental safety questions.
''The biggest polluter of the Nairobi River is the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company and the Athi Water and Sewerage Company and we have realised that their main sewerage lines pass through the river. Now we have to redo the sewer, causing the government huge infrastructural losses,'' Duale revealed.
''Previous governments tried to redo the Nairobi River with success registered only between the areas of Globe Roundabout and Grogon at the Michuki Park. Mark my words, the river will be different in another 18 months,'' Duale added.
The CS added that these companies knowingly run their waste into the river, painting the damning picture that has impacted negatively on environmental conservation efforts in the Nairobi Metropolitan.
Duale revealed that his sentiments had been confirmed by the Nairobi River Regeneration Program Committee which has released a survey detailing how the notorious companies discharge harmful effluents into the river.
The CS further revealed that their investigations had proven that most slaughterhouses in the city, especially those around the Nairobi River, were also culprits in the discharge of their waste into the water body.
Kiamaiko abattoir in Nairobi's Eastlands is among the slaughterhouses that the CS blamed for the environment bad practice.
Duale's sentiments came at a time when Kenyans and the environment conservationists have been questioning the government's commitment to dealing with the pollution of the river.
Additionally, informal settlements, commercial enterprises, and companies operating along the 47-kilometre stretch that passes through Nairobi County have been blamed for the by a survey that was conducted to assess the biggest polluters of the water body.
However, Duale was recently on the receiving end after he made a similar sentiment to the survey, attributing the pollution of the river to the middle-class Kenyans who he accused of polluting the river in a statement at the sidelines of the event in Baku.
Agitated Kenyans accused the CS of class profiling instead of dealing directly with the scourge, this forced the office of the Government of the Spokesperson to clarify the matter.
