Kiamaiko meat traders have ignored Nema directive to relocate from their filthy abattoirs to modern slaughterhouses in Njiru ward.
The traders fear the relocation will lead to business losses.
But this is not the first time the meat merchants are refusing to move out of their dirty location.
In April 2018, the National Environment Management Authority closed all Kiamaiko slaughterhouses for violating health regulations.
The structures lacked pre-treatment facilities and channelled waste directly into Nairobi River.
Eight months later in December, Nema gave Kiamaiko goat market traders one year to find an alternative site, condemning the popular market stalls as unsuitable and unhygienic.
On Monday, Dandora Three MCA Charles Thuo said the now mushrooming slaughterhouses were a health hazard.
"The relocation is being frustrated by slaughterhouses proprietors for fear of losing businesses," Thuo said as he sought a statement from the Environment and Natural Resources committee on the state of Kiamaiko abattoirs.
Committee chairman John Kamau is expected to report on why the owners are refusing to relocate and to explain what the Executive is doing to ensure Kiamaiko and its environs are safe.
Kamau acknowledged the seriousness of the problem and requested 10 days to reply "so we can dispense with this matter".
Kiamaiko is in Eastlands, 12 kilometres from the city centre. The traders moved to the site now popular with goat meat consumers in 1996.
The relocation to Njiru on Kangundo Road was delayed by the slow pace of the slaughterhouse construction due to the 2017 general election politics.
Thuo, who in 2018 was the Trade committee chairman, said Kiamaiko is not a single institution.
"People slaughter animals on the ground floors of residential blocks . The land is not owned by the county or local residents," he said.
In September 2019, a joint inspection was conducted by the county departments of Environment, Health, Agriculture, Water and Planning and members of the County Assembly from related committees.
The team found 15 filthy and unlicensed slaughterhouses which were thereafter ordered to close. It also established that there were 14 unsanitary structures used illegally for meat storage with illegal water connections.
Mohammed Dagane, the then Health executive, said: "It is shocking to find meat storage structures operating between homes. On the ground floor is meat storage and the above floors are houses. They have even connected water and power illegally.”
Vesca Kangogo, who was at the time the Environment and Water executive, said the county was losing water and revenue due to illegal connections.
"The water pumps in those structures are pulling water from upstream coming down and there are no taps to regulate the flow. They operate 24 hours. The pipes are connected through the walls, meaning they are not being billed," she said.
Last year, the Water Department said the city loses Sh3.7 billion non-revenue water annually. This translated to about 40 per cent of the total supply.
- mwaniki fm
