Kiamaiko abattoir operating without licence, committee told

Kiamaiko slaughterhouse is still operating three weeks after the county Agriculture department recommended that its licence should not be renewed. 

Agriculture executive Pauline Kahiga said they had visited the slaughterhouse and found that it lacked sanitary standards. The department decided not to renew the licence.

"According to what we gathered, the slaughterhouse has already identified a place in Ruai where the market will be relocated. As a remedial action, we did not renew its licence," Kahiga said. 

Last week on Thursday at City Hall, the committees on Water, Health, Agriculture and Environment met with the respective CECs to address issues related to the slaughterhouse. 

They were responding to a statement by nominated MCA Kabiro Mbugua who sought to know whether Kiamaiko had complied with the required sanitation standards.

Kiamaiko is in a slum about eight kilometres from the CBD in Mathare subcounty. Last year, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee said abattoirs like Kiamaiko made it difficult to enhance food safety standards.

It is on private land which is also used as a holding ground for goats and sheep. It has 15 slaughter slabs. 

Veterinary Services director Muhari Muriithi said the status of the slaughterhouse cannot be improved and that the only option is for it to be relocated.

Muriithi told the Star that the other slaughterhouses have met the required standards like efficient effluent management system. 

The director is concerned that human settlements have encroached on the slaughterhouses. 

"The huge population overcrowds these facilities which have no proper entry and exit points, making it difficult to implement food safety standards," he said. 

Imara Daima MCA Kennedy Obuya (Agriculture committee)  said they recommended the closure of all abattoirs "but nothing has been done to date". 

"We made recommendations that Kiamaiko is retained as a market and the slaughterhouse relocated," Obuya said.

Untreated effluent 

Water chief officer Mohamed Abdi regretted that the abattoirs have not complied with the requisite sanitation standards.

"The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company has not issued any licence to the slaughterhouse. However, Nairobi Water is currently upgrading the sewerage system in the area to ensure the highest levels of sanitation," he said.

Water committee chairman Paul Kados said effluent from the slaughterhouse was not treated.

Public Health deputy director Kenneth Mando said all effluent being released into sewerage systems should be treated.

Environment committee chairman John Kamau suggested that the executive visits the slaughterhouse to familiarise themselves with the sad state of affairs. 

Health committee chairman Peter Warutere said: "The standing point is that we are not offering Nairobians the services they require. The slaughterhouse might be a health risk to residents." 

No land ownership 

Trade committee chairman Charles Thuo said Kiamaiko is not a single institution.

"When we visited the place, we witnessed people slaughtering in residential houses on the ground floor. The land is not owned by the county or the local residents," he said.

Thuo also stated that the people slaughtering the animals are just tenants, adding that the market is used as holding ground. 

The chairman said the community was hostile and only talks to county officials through their chairman. 

Edited by R.Wamochie