Polluting factory in Imara Daima goes happily on
What you need to know:
- The people most susceptible to lung infections caused by the fumes emitted by this industry are the children of Imara Daima.
- Activists in Kenya, now more than ever, need to pay attention of this injustice.
- Death is not what we should sign up for in the name of development.
For the past few months, residents of Imara Daima Estate on Mombasa Road have been suffering from fumes being emitted by an industrial plant near their homes.
My first question, of course, is what that plant is doing in a residential area. Aren't there rules against that?
That was the residents’ question too. They went to Nema to ask that the polluting industry be shut down, and one factory suspected to be behind the pollution was closed for a month.
Now it is back and causing more illness than ever. In fact, the noxious smell is causing many inhabitants to move.
After a week of following this story, a series of more questions have emerged. Why was the company shut down for one month only? Could it be that someone's palm was greased to make that happen?
Don't these people care about the fact that they can permanently affect people and children?
We have watched legal dramas like Erin Brockovich, or documentaries about how industries adversely affect those who reside near them – whether it is an inability to sleep because the odour keeps you awake like in Imara Daima, or children who get cancer 20 years later.
AN UNFEELING BEAST
The bottom line is, this is obviously dangerous.
Who allowed that industry there? Why was it allowed to reopen? If there are laws forbidding industries in residential areas, surely more can be done?
Flouting law results in death. We have seen this with our lax anti-corruption enforcement and casual security codes, if even just for the reason that police aren't paid enough to want to protect you anyway.
People die when the law is not followed, and the people most susceptible to lung infections caused by the fumes emitted by this industry are the children of Imara Daima, the ones whose bodies are not strong enough to fight against such toxic air.
Whoever is allowing this company to continue contaminating the air and health of the people in this area is an unfeeling beast, and a bully.
What will it take for them to stop? A bigger bully perhaps, in the shape of the masses.
It is unfortunate that cases like this slide under the radar so often, because the citizenry will not come forward and protest as they should. But we have the power, you know.
PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
The first thing that should be done is to take the matter to a court of law and ask for a temporary injunction barring the polluting industry from continuing its operations until the case is finally heard, instead of this on-again off-again situation.
When that fails then the power to protest is what is left. Activists in Kenya, now more than ever, need to pay attention to this injustice. The same goes for our Senators who have the President on speed dial and our 'leaders' in the Ministry of Youth and Culture.
I think it is time for a hashtag, dear Kenyans on Twitter. I think it is time our human rights activists paid attention to the plight of Imara Daima residents.
If polluting industries are to continue their operations just like that, then it would mean we have become one of those countries that has sold its soul to big companies, or whichever overly polluted country is building the most roads with a semblance of drainage.
Maybe we have already, given the way companies now run what goes on in the country.
However, pardon me if I choose to believe that we are better than this, that at the very least, in the poetry of our souls, human lives still mean something to us.
Death is not what we should sign up for in the name of development. We need to ask ourselves who development is supposed to help if it kills its supposed beneficiaries.
Today, Imara Daima. Tomorrow?
Twitter: @AbigailArunga
