Ordinarily, no county government allows indiscriminate pasting of posters, especially in urban areas.
For instance, in Nairobi you have to pay at least Sh36,000 for 1,000 posters, which you must also commit to removing after a certain period.
The goal is to prevent littering and collect revenue for clean-up.
But this law is grossly flouted during elections. It’s now nearly two weeks since the August 9 election and campaign posters are still covering walls, street light poles and other public properties.
The lack of official action to end the littering with political posters is infuriating.
The reason for this impunity is that no law explicitly cites election material litter.
The Elections Act 2011 only makes it an offence to print, publish, distribute or post a placard or poster, which refers to an election, without displaying the name and address of the printer and publisher of the material.
The Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act does not explicitly detail the fines for those polluting the environment with posters.
It is now upon the IEBC to order all candidates to remove their posters and dispose of them properly or face prosecution.
County authorities must also clean up public spaces because they collected money to do exactly that.
Quote of the Day: “Unity cannot be taken for granted.”
Jomo Kenyatta
Kenya’s first prime minister and first president died on August 22, 1978
