Nairobi News

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The People’s Champion April 10, 2014

April 11th, 2014 2 min read

Toxic polythene

Congratulations to the Governor for the intended green move of banning polythene in the city, says Peter Kirimi.

The ban when effected will further allow the production of green power in the city through biogas plants.

The article on the ban only   mentions the losers — plastic bag importers and producers  — forgetting the winners, and they are many more.

All Nairobians will benefit by getting cleaner and water quality and maybe even lower electricity rates.

The producers of the ‘real’ paper bags and biologically degradable bags are some of these. Locally producing the ‘green’ bags instead of throwing millions out of the county and country in buying polythene is a wise move.

The only problem I have is that it may never be implemented because we are all talk and nothing more.

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Too good a deal?

The MOU the county government has signed with a Chinese firm for revamping of water and sewerage infrastructure sounds good like all loan offers from banks, Joan Odembe says.

The bad part is yet to come. The Chinese firm is to make financing  —through a loan from the China government or banks in the same country — available, while the county government will give the firm the contract to do the work.

The problem with the arrangement is that the firm might overcharge to ensure all the money goes back to China, while the County Hall is left sinking with debts it could easily have been avoided. Odembe’s advise to the county is: remember that will be a loan and payback time will soon come.

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Water woes

There is no end in sight for water problems in Nairobi, says Mariamu Mpole, who says she read the story about the employer who bit her househelp for misusing water with a mixture of anger and amusement.

Says she: The authorities have been playing a dirty game and politicising water shortages. A lot of the times water is needlessly rationed so that a chosen few can dig boreholes and sell the commodity to the mwananchi.

The reality, which is clear to many, though, is some people are making millions selling water that is meant to be provided at a reasonable cost.

Water rationing is occurring as the authorities concerned make it look like there really is a genuine shortage.  Biting an innocent girl’s back is not the solution, though, she advises.

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End police terror

The police do not have to terrorise residents to counter terrorism, says Denson Mbithi. He says he is no security expert but knows there are better ways of countering terror attacks which have become all too common in the city and country in general.

Mbithi is concerned about the families arrested in the name of identity verification with even their young children.

The most annoying thing, he says, is that the usual extortionist mentality of police officers will be at work and everyone will eventually be  released, but after ‘greasing’ some police hands.

Let police do their work the way they should or are they not trained on how to screen suspects or search for explosives and related materials without causing too much disruption to the lives of the innocent? He asks.