NMS boss Badi to launch ‘mandatory' city clean-up exercise

City residents will required to take part in monthly clean-ups of their neighbourhoods. 

Nairobi Metropolitan Services director general Mohammed Badi made the announcement on Saturday as he launched the Ngong River Clean-Up  at Karagita, Mihang’o ward.

“Each and every citizen of Nairobi county is supposed to dedicate one day a month in a clean-up exercise of the area. This is going to come into law and it will be a must,” he said.

Mihang’o ward rep and assembly Majority Whip Paul Kados urged residents to be responsible and keep the environment clean.

“As much as NMS through the NYS has the responsibility of collecting garbage, it is our own obligation to keep the environment we are living in clean and free from garbage," Badi said.

Badi said NMS has reactivated 21 garbage collection trucks that had been grounded for a long time.

He said NMS has enaged the National Youth Service to provide trucks and machinery to collect garbage citywide since March.

The once-a-month clean-up exercise is not new to residents as Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko launched a monthly clean-up in July 2018 to restore what was once called the Green City in the Sun.

“The clean-up will be constant. We want the city to have a culture where residents are conscious about the need for a clean environment and it is their responsibility to keep their surroundings clean,” Sonko said.

The exercise had taken place across the 85 wards.

The same year in October, President Uhuru Kenyatta and UN Habitat executive director Maimuna Sharif took part in the monthly clean-up at St Anne’s Girls High School along Jogoo Road.

(Edited by V. Graham)