ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN KENYA – IS IT EFFECTIVE?

For the last two weeks the residents of Kipevu in Mombasa have been struggling to cope with toxic fumes that have been emanating from a discarded cargo transport vehicle destined for a Uganda mine. It has taken close to a fortnight for officials from the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA) to contain the spread of what is apparently identified as an ‘acid’. How capable is your local environmental custodian? In the case of Kenya, is this a problem of inadequate budgeting or inadequate coordination?