The indefinite ban of the scrap metal trade by President Uhuru Kenyatta has thrust dealers back to the drawing board seeking government’s intervention to temporarily lift the ban on the trade for a month.
They claim that the window will allow them to develop legislation to manage their industry, which employs at least three million people.
However, they are yet to come up with a self regulation moratorium that will deter unscrupulous traders offering ready market to vandals targeting vital installations worth billions majorly the rail , road and power line infrastructure thus disrupting service delivery to the public.
Last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered an indefinite ban on the scrap trade as part of reforms aimed at preventing damage to critical public infrastructure.
“The law is clear. These acts are nothing less than economic sabotage which fall under treasonable acts and the law is clear as to how we deal with treasonable acts. We will not allow you to destroy that which is for the growth and development of our country to benefit a few individual pockets,” Kenyatta cautioned.
The scrap metal sellers, led by Evans Ng’ang’a, a spokesman of the traders, claimed the prohibition has spelled disaster for those who have relied on the trade for decades.
“But since January 20, we have not been in business and those we employ and their families have been affected.” he said.
However, the government is nearing completion of legislation that will oversee the sale of scrap metal, despite a presidential moratorium on the trade to combat rising vandalism.
The National Assembly committee on Trade said the line ministry has completed drawing regulations and will invite stakeholders and scrap metal traders to give their views on Wednesday before tabling them in Parliament for scrutiny within two weeks.
Regulations are needed to implement the Scrap Metal Act of 2015 and will among others require scrap metal dealers to keep track of the source of their metal in a bid to guard against vandalism of infrastructure like bridges, the standard gauge railway, roads and electricity transmission lines.
The ban has hit battery manufacturers hard, with a multi-million recycling plant in Athi River expected to lay off thousands of people.
According to the Associated Battery Manufacturers (ABM), Chief Executive Officer Guy Jack the factory that recycles old batteries into pure lead and reusable polymers may close due to a shortage of raw materials.
“If the President’s decision forbidding the export of scrap metal is not communicated to local authorities, ABM, with a direct and indirect employee base of several thousand people, appears poised to close soon owing to a lack of raw material,” Jack said in a statement.
Unless the President’s decision against the export of scrap metal is conveyed to local authorities, the situation will worsen.
The coming shortfall, according to Jack, is due to enforcement agencies’ misinterpretation of a presidential edict prohibiting the export of scrap metals.
He further states the Athi River-based recycling business receives 2,000 tons of lead every month, which is sourced from used vehicle and solar batteries and processed back into pure lead.
“Unfortunately, since the presidential directive was issued, the plant has gotten next to nothing. “In the previous three years, ABM has invested well over Sh1 billion, all based on the availability of secure raw materials,” Jack remarked.
This comes after guardrails and traffic barriers at Nakuru’s newly built Njoro intersection were vandalized as well as electricity transmission infrastructure, the Standard Gauge Railway and communication masts.
