The Mombasa county government is on a mission to make the Kongowea market the cleanest in the East African region.
The county has partnered with Pioneer Insurance Kenya to sensitize the Kongowea community, both traders and shoppers, about the importance of a clean and green environment.
One of the largest open-air markets in East Africa, Kongowea hosts about 40,000 traders both inside the main market and outside it, with hundreds of thousands of shoppers doing their shopping daily.
The market produces approximately 45 tonnes of garbage daily, which is picked by three trucks and transported to the main Mwakirunge dumpsite in Mwakirunge, Kisauni sub-county.
The partnership saw Pioneer Insurance staff, led by Mombasa branch manager Francis Ngemu, clean the market on Friday.
They collected close to 20 tonnes of garbage in three hours.
Ngemu said the clean-up exercise has been an annual activity in the past but discussions are ongoing to make it a monthly exercise and ensure more material and financial support.
“Today, we are doing it across the country. Apart from cleaning markets in different counties, we are also planting trees to ensure the country goes green,” Ngemu said.
He said as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the insurance company has embarked on a sensitization campaign across the country to make Kenyans conscious of the environment.
“This is also in supporting the government agenda of planting 15 billion trees across the country to increase the forest cover. We are going green. That’s the idea,” Ngemu said.
Ngemu also led his team in planting 500 mango trees and 250 other fruit trees in Mombasa to prevent soil erosion in areas like Tudor Creek.
Mombasa county chief officer in the trade department Swaleh Mwalizuma said the partnership with Pioneer Insurance will enable traders and shoppers at Kongowea market to become more conscious of the environment and, hopefully, act more responsibly.
Mwalizuma said the Kongowea market serves the whole of the Coast region and is a key cog in the economy of the region.
Trucks bring food from other parts of the country into the market for local consumption while other trucks transport food from the market to other counties in the region like in hotels in Kilifi and Kwale counties.
“Hotels in Malindi, Kwale, and Taita all get their food from Kongowea market. Thus it is important that the market maintains the highest standards of cleanliness,” Mwalizuma said.
The chief officer called on Mombasa residents to be the first cleaners and ensure the entire county, not only Kongowea, is clean at all times.
“Cleanliness starts with you as an individual. You cannot just buy a packet of milk, drink it and throw the empty packet anyhow. You must take responsibility and dispose of it in the right manner and place,” Mwalizuma said.
The chief officer likened Kongowea to a rented house and the traders to tenants.
“Once you rent a house, you cannot expect the landlord to be the one to come clean your house. You have to make it clean yourself,” he said.
He said there is a dumpsite outside the market from where trucks pick the garbage for transportation to the main dumpsite in the county at Mwakirunge.
“Traders at Kongowea, please ensure you leave your stall, or area of operation, clean every evening before you leave for home. Take the garbage to the dumpsite,” Mwalizuma urged.
“It makes work for us easier,” he said.
