Nyeri county has put in place a law that makes provisions for the management of solid waste in the county.
Governor Mutahi Kahiga on Wednesday said the Nyeri county Solid Management Bill, 2020, will provide a legal framework for solid waste management.
It will also provide a framework to encourage public participation in the management, protection and conservation of the environment.
It further outlines a legal basis for the implementation of the county integrated solid waste management plan and regulates the activities of the various actors in solid waste management.
Nyeri has been grappling with the issue of solid waste management with Kahiga saying the bill will now solve the problem.
“For quite some time the citizens have not seen the value of their involvement in solid management.
"Consequently, the county assembly and ourselves have come together just to ensure that we will be able to have a guide and policy that will help us,” he said.
The law, he said will now enable the county to take punitive action on people who break the laws around solid waste management.
He spoke when he signed five county bills into law in his office in Nyeri town on Wednesday.
The other four included the Nyeri county Public Transport Bill, 2021, Youth Development Bill, 2021, Disaster Management Bill, 2021 and Finance County Bill 2021.
The Transport Bill seeks to regulate the handling of public transport within the county in terms of the Saccos transport base, termini and regulation of rates, rents and other matters regarding the sector.
“We shall also be involved in traffic regulation within the county.
"Remember few days ago we trained our traffic marshals and we will be able to now effectively handle that sector because the law will have been put in place,” he said.
The Disaster Management Bill, 2021, will guide and regulate how disaster management is handled within the county.
He said with finances and time, the county will have disaster management sections that will be able to effectively respond to all kinds of disasters.
The assenting of the Youth Development Bill will empower the youth by putting in place a committee that will manage their affairs and also entrench them within the county programmes.
This will enable the county to focus on how it will develop the youth.
The Bill captures the creation of a fund where the young people can be provided with low interest funds to help them progress.
The Finance County Bill 2021, he said, will enable the county focus on own revenue generation.
“What this Bill has done is that it has focused on post Covid-19 recovery measures.
"We have been able to maintain many of the charges that we charged in the previous years and also to give relief to majority of our businesses which have adversely been affected by Covid-19,” he noted.
He said the bill when implemented will help the people to recover by either reducing charges or cost of maintaining them, which he said is not the norm in many county finance bills even as the county seeks to collect a substantial amount of revenue.
Deputy speaker Samuel Kariuki told the youth that they now have a bill that will take care of their interests and advised them to take the advantage so they can apply for money and boost their businesses.
He said during the supplementary budget, the county will set aside seed capital for the youth development fund so the youth can borrow.
Leader of majority James Kanyugo said the bills signed are sensitive to the needs of the people.
He said with the waste management bill the population will work with the government in management of the waste by sorting it at the source.
“This is so that those who are ready to recycle the materials, we will make it very easy for them to attain working permits so that we are able to manage our garbage together,” he said.
He said the transport bill have factored some regulations to regulate the boda boda industry so it does not become a menace, though a good industry.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
