A civil society group has written to the Mombasa County
government seeking details of a Sh17 billion deal with a West African firm to
handle waste collection.
Mombasa County signed the deal with Ghana’s Jospong Group of
Companies (JGC) to modernize waste collection and management in the county over
a period of 35 years.
The Centre for Litigation Trust (CLT) has requested that the
Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir administration provide information on how the
contract for the design, construction, financing, operation, and transfer of a
waste-to-energy processing plant in Mwakirunge was awarded.
In a letter dated 24th October 2025 and addressed to the
County Secretary, CLT requested details on the tender process, including the
number of entities that applied, shortlisted firms, whether public
participation was conducted, the evaluation criteria, the contract period, and
whether the deal is a public-private partnership or a regular tender.
The letter was stamped as received on 28th October 2025 at
both the Executive and County Assembly offices.
On Tuesday, Mombasa County Environment Executive Committee
member (CECM) Kibibi Abdalla said the deal with JGC will first be implemented
as a three-month trial, during which 41 youth groups, comprising about 500
young people, will be involved in collecting and managing waste across the
county.
“In these three months, we will monitor how the
implementation works and identify any challenges. After this period, we plan to
expand fully, involving around 200 groups and approximately 3,000 youth,” she
said.
The deal followed a visit to Ghana in early August by a
26-member Mombasa delegation led by Nassir, which studied JGC’s waste
management model with the aim of replicating it in the county. This came after
a JGC delegation from Ghana visited Mombasa in July.
Zoomlion Ghana Ltd, a subsidiary of JGC, provides waste
management solutions across Africa and is expanding its operations through new
partnerships on the continent.
The Sh17 billion waste management deal has generated
interest in the Mombasa County Assembly, with some members seeking clarity on
the process, including the extent of consultation and the Assembly’s role in
approval, as provided for under the Urban Areas and Cities Act 2011.
