•The owners of the abattoirs were ordered to relocate to a newly built abattoir in Lucky Summer.
•The slaughterhouses' operators have been accused of releasing effluent into the Nairobi River.
Image: COURTESY
National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has ordered the permanent closure of 15 slaughterhouses in Kiamaiko.
In an interview with a local TV station on Sunday, NEMA Director-General Mamo Boru ordered the owners of the abattoirs to relocate to a newly built multimillion abattoir in Lucky Summer, Njiru.
The slaughterhouses' operators, who had snubbed the facility since it was launched, have one month to relocate.
Boru said the relocation must be enforced with immediate effect in an effort to save the Nairobi River from further pollution.
The slaughterhouses' operators have been accused of releasing effluent into the Nairobi River.
Between 300-400 livestock are slaughtered at the facility daily. The abattoirs are said to be releasing solid waste into the river and also fail to pretreat liquid waste before discharging it to the sewer line.
Mamo said this was not the first time the questions about environmental practices and hygiene standards are being raised in Kiamaiko.
There was another closure order in 2018 but was later lifted after a meeting between the owners of the abattoirs and the government agencies.
The meeting resolved that the owners adhere to the stipulated guidelines on waste disposal failure to which all the slaughterhouses would be closed.
The measures include; all the hides and skins to be taken to the licensed tanneries daily, all workers must be medically examined and properly dressed, owners to provide clean washrooms for workers, designate shoat holding pen away from the slaughterhouses and slaughterhouses to install a monitoring chamber that is properly sieved.
"After an emergency inspection by Nema in December last year, the slaughterhouses had not fully implemented the guidelines and therefore, Nema recommended the closure,” Mamo said.
"We have given them the month of February to organize themselves and move to the site. There are no extensions. We have engaged them for long, now it’s time to move,” ordered Mamo.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Service had written a letter to the owners over the discharge of untreated waste into the river and gave them 14 days of compliance or closure.
The Nairobi County Assembly environment committee had also recommended the closure of these slaughterhouses in November last year.
NEMA says that the closure will be part of ensuring the Nairobi River regeneration initiative is on the cause.