Migori County residents have protested over the low sanitary situation within residential streets and in strategic areas of businesses within towns and market centers.
In recent days, some towns, including Migori, have experienced heightened revolts from tax payers, accusing the county government leadership of neglecting its responsibility of protecting the residents from opportunistic diseases resulting from an unhygienic environment.
The situation has been so bad that most of the business people, homeowners and pedestrians have had to leave with mountains of putrid garbage next to their homes and on roads they stride every day to their different destinations.
“The strong odours from piles of garbage dotting our streets in towns and markets are sickening us, and it is time that we tell our Governor that enough is enough,” warned Caroline Atieno, a resident of Awendo town.
Atieno, a business lady selling various food items at the main town market, said during a recent media interview that the town dwellers must now stop paying taxes unless service delivery is improved immediately.
About ten kilometres from Awendo town, traders at Oyani market in Uriri Sub County have also been agonising over the poor sanitation status of their market, a situation that recently triggered protests against the Migori County government over its failure to clean the market.
The people, particularly the business community, here claimed that despite paying levy charges promptly, the county government had failed to clean the town and provide clean water, thus exposing them to the risks of contracting communicable diseases such as cholera.
At the same time, the group decried the lack of security lights within the centre, leading to increased insecurity at the market and the entire trading centre.
Susan Akinyi, a grocery businesswoman at the market, regretted that, as a result of lack of security in the area, three shops, including hers, were broken into and property of huge value was stolen in the past two months.
On matters of sanitation, the traders complained of not having proper toilets within the market where they can use to respond to their normal calls of nature.
“We are forced to relieve ourselves behind the houses surrounding the market, which also increases chances of cholera outbreaks within and around this market,” Akinyi said.
She hilariously pointed out an irony about an incomplete modern toilet in the market, which was built by the county government back in 2017.
From as far as Macalder town near the shores of Lake Victoria to Isebania town at the Kenya-Tanzania border and to Rongo town, the cries about poor sanitation are the same with residents.
Although the county government has been collecting millions of shillings from the people towards improving the environment of these urban centres and markets, no positive results have been recorded in the past to show that the taxpayers are getting value for their money.
Efforts by KNA to seek comments from senior officers at the environment office, however, did not get convincing answers to the big question of why the local garbage collection department has failed to offer good services.
An officer at the department, who asked to remain anonymous because he is junior and cannot comment on such a matter, claimed that the department has very minimal tools to carry out its mandates.
“We only have 2 tractors and 2 lorries to collect garbage in about 25 towns, urban and market centers designated for cleanup throughout the county by this department,” explained the officer.
The department is also short of finances and workers to collect all the garbage on the spot, added the officer, urging the local people to be patient as the environment ministry had shared their predicaments with the governor Ochillo Ayacko and very soon all their problems will be resolved.
By George Agimba
