Scrap Metal Council (SMC) has suspended the renewal and issuance of export licenses with immediate effect until further notice.
The council arrived at the decision during a Special Full Council Meeting on Thursday following a resurgence of wanton vandalism of critical national infrastructure.
“The council has also noted and agreed with the action taken by security agencies charged with the task of protecting critical national infrastructure in Embu to suspend the scrap metal business in the county until further notice,” the council said in a statement sent to newsrooms.
SMC called on all licensed scrap metal dealers across the country to comply with the law and avoid abetting vandalism of critical national infrastructure and private property.
The council is a state corporation established vide the Scrap Metal Act of 2015 and mandated to regulate the scrap metal business in the country.
SMC added that it has renewed its commitment to the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government regarding mapping and vetting of all scrap metal dealers in the country.
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta President Uhuru Kenyatta on January 20, 2022, imposed an indefinite ban on scrap metal trade to curb increasing vandalism of key installations.
These include theft and vandalism of road barriers, guardrails, utility infrastructure, conductors, cables, copper wife, railway gauge blocks and rails, transformers and other materials.
Uhuru called the theft "nothing less than economic sabotage, which is treasonous".
The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade in April 2022 told the National Assembly in a report that the moratorium had reduced Sh3 billion damage caused by vandals to infrastructure.
In January of that year, a breakdown at Kenya Power’s transmission line caused a blackout that affected customers across the country.
The outage was attributed to vandalism that caused a tower on the Kiambere-Embakasi high-voltage transmission line to collapse.
