An environment expert says the Kibarani dumping site in Mombasa has is impacting negatively on the aquatic life at the adjacent Indian Ocean.
Speaking to People Daily on Friday, Fredrick Owiti called on the county government to immediately consider shifting the site elsewhere before the situation worsens, noting that wastes from the garbage have already started “suffocating” the mangrove forests along the ocean.
“You cannot have a dump site next to the ocean and it is time this dumpsite is decommissioned. There used to be a plantation of mangrove on the other side of this dumpsite but now the plantation is no more, while on this other side, the trees are dying slowly,” said the Mombasa-based environmentalist.
He argued that, in fact, the dumpsite exists illegally since the policy on garbage outlaws dumping near the ocean.
“This dumpsite was created when there were no laws requiring that an Environmental Impact Assessment Test be taken for a dumpsite to be established; the law governing the assessment was created in 1999 and became operational in 2003, so according to the available documents, this dumpsite is illegal,” said Owiti.
However, Mombasa county acting Environment Executive Tendai Mtana Lewa dismissed the claims as baseless.
“I don’t know who those who keep saying the Kibarani dumpsite is an environmental threat are but personally, I have never been issued with any document that can really justify what they are saying. Let them bring us a document from Nema to prove to us that indeed what they are saying is true,” he said.
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