Following Monday’s standoff between rival debtors Kenya Power and Nairobi City County, the Ministry of Health through the Public Health and Professional Standards PS Mary Muthoni has demanded that Nairobi City County clean and sanitize the area around Stima Plaza immediately to allow a return to normalcy for businesses around the premises.
The ministry insists that many others not part of the ensuing scuffle were affected.
When she visited the area, Public Health and Professional Standards PS Mary Muthoni called out the county’s public health department for not being advised against the move.
PS Muthoni is now demanding an immediate investigation into the matter, insisting the acts, which included sewerage blockage at the Stima plaza and the Aga Khan walk branch and garbage dumping at the headquarters, may have led to infections.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen on Thursday during a press briefing Flanked by the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, and the Director of Criminal Investigations, Mohammed Amin, the CS condemned the act, describing it as “primitive” and a threat to public health, revealing that several arrests were made and vehicles impounded after Nairobi County officials dumped waste at Stima Plaza in a retaliatory attack.
Murkomen said that despite popular belief that the National Police Service had not intervened to cool down the situation, they had arrested several of the suspected perpetrators and impounded some of the vehicles involved.
She wants all investigative bodies to expeditiously come to the bottom of the matter.
On Wednesday, during a meeting chaired by the Chief of Staff Felix Koskei at Harambee House offices also attended by Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi and ICT PS John Tanui, the rival factions; Nairobi County and Kenya Power agreed to put aside their differences to enhance services to city dwellers with Sakaja taken to task to explain actions by the county
After the meeting, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja denied authorising the dumping of garbage by the county government staff at Stima Plaza
On Monday, the Nairobi County government and Kenya Power and Lighting Company clashed over a long-standing row emanating from unpaid bills by the two entities.
Kenya Power accused Nairobi County of not paying electricity bills amounting to Sh3.1 billion on one hand, and the City-County government, on the other, said the utility farm owes them Sh4.83 billion.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) through Environmental Education director Ayub Macharia ordered the Nairobi County Government to remove its garbage trucks and waste dumped at Stima Plaza in the escalating feud with Kenya Power.
According to Macharia, the retaliatory measures by City Hall violated environmental laws adding that neighbouring residents and businesses had been unfairly affected by the stench.
