•Nema also faulted for failing to enforce the ban on plastic bags.
•Numerous entities found without air quality, effluent licenses.
Image: FILE
Nema has been put on the spot for failing to hold big corporate organisations accountable for polluting rivers.
A new audit says Nema has failed to regulate air quality, effluent discharge and production of plastic bags.
Auditor General Nancy Gathugu, in the latest review of Nema’s books says the authority has only licensed 394 facilities countrywide for air quality emission.
Details say only 32 level 4 hospitals were licensed as of June 30 last year.
This means more than 2,660 others could be possibly emitting dangerous and hazardous gases into the atmosphere.
The audit says cement firms, Athi River Mining and East African Portland Company were not licensed during the time of review.
In the telecommunications sector, only Safaricom was licensed for generators installed at communication masts.
“In view of the above, most facilities have been polluting the environment denying residents the right to ambient quality air for human health and safety,” Gathungu said.
She said as this went on, the authority did not intervene, saying no evidence was presented during the audit to counter the assertions.
“There was no evidence of any interventions from the authority as empowered by the law,” Gathungu said.
Further to this, the authority failed to collect revenue in form of license fees to support its operations.
“In the circumstances, the authority failed to regulate air pollutants in line with Environmental Management and Coordination (Air Quality) Regulations, 2013,” the auditor general said.
On plastic bags, it emerged that 18 manufacturers were not in the authority’s list of approved plastic bag manufacturers despite the entities being disclosed in user’s application forms.
Gathungu said the situation “may have led to proliferation of banned plastic bags in contravention of the Legal Notice 2334 of March 14, 2017 (which enforced the ban).”
Nema is also on the spot for failing to regulate companies discharging waste into rivers and other water bodies.
The report further reveals that of the 85 water and sewerage companies, only 10 were licensed for water quality during the time of audit.
In the categories of schools, colleges, universities – both private and public, only 15 institutions were licensed countrywide.
This was despite most of the institutions operating off the main sewer line, begging the question on how they manage their effluent.
In addition, only 24 out of 2,695 Level 4 hospitals had licenses for effluent discharge yet most hospitals operate off the main sewer line.
Auditors also established that only 22 slaughterhouses countrywide were licensed, with several counties having no licensed slaughterhouses.
This is despite the existence of many slaughterhouses in the counties.
“In review of above, most eligible facilities including water and sewerage companies, learning institutions, Level 4 hospitals and slaughterhouses could be discharging effluents into the environment unregulated and also denying the government revenue in form of license fees,” Gathungu said.
She warned that the public may have been exposed to toxic effluents due to failure by Nema to regulate and monitor the eligible facilities for compliance.
The Environmental Management and Coordination, (Water Quality) Regulations, 2006, requires the authority to enforce measures for clean discharge of effluent to rivers and other water bodies.
On waste management, the authority was found to have failed to regulate entities, starving it of the license fees it could use to finance its budget.
The audit revealed that Nema earned a paltry Sh31 million for licensing of waste disposal sites and waste transporters.
Several counties, the audit revealed, including Busia, Kakamega, Nyamira, Siaya, Vihiga, TransNzoia, Kericho, Lamu, Narok, Nyeri, Meru, and Garissa had no single licensed waste transporter or disposal sites.
This was despite most counties having low sewer coverage, hence according to the auditor general acted contrary to the Waste Management Regulations, 2006.
The review revealed that most of the hospitals including Kenyatta National Hospital operated incinerators without proper licenses.
Similar cases were also reported at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Mbagathi, Nairobi Hospital, Karen, MP Shah and a number of county referral hospitals.
“The Authority may have failed to regulate most of the disposal sites, waste transporters and waste handlers thus exposing the public to health and safety risks,” Gathungu said.
The Environmental Management and Co-ordination (Waste Management) Regulations, 2006 requires such controls.
Nema, the report shows, told auditors that the laxity had partly to do with limited financial resources.
“In the circumstances, failure to regulate waste management led to uncollected license fees required to finance the authority’s budget,” the report says.
Recently, Nema pushed for the enforcement of an eco-levy, which was among others aimed at helping it shore up its revenue streams, but failed.