Thika residents protest pollution by eggs-tray making factory plant inside residential area
Led by Francis Njuguna who is the Nyumba Kumi leader for Kisiwa West, the locals also asked both the national and Kiambu county governments to intervene, saying that no public participation exercise was carried out as required by law
Residents of Ngoingwa estate in Thika, Kiambu County are up in arms over a factory that has been put up right inside residential premises.
The protesters including home owners and tenants living in the area now want the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and other relevant government agencies to have the factory, located at Mukarara Close in Kisiwa area, closed or relocated to an industrial zone due to the health risks it poses to residents.
Led by Francis Njuguna who is the Nyumba Kumi leader for Kisiwa West, the locals also asked both the national and Kiambu county governments to intervene, saying that no public participation exercise was carried out as required by law.
Njuguna said that residents were exposed to all manner of health risks by emissions from the factory, noting that the plant which manufactures egg trays uses waste materials, some of which include plastics, for production.
“Residents are prone to respiratory ailments including asthma, allergies and skin infections, we now urge the authorities to move swiftly and close the premises,” he said.
Similar sentiments were aired by Doreen Awinja, a resident who said children are the most affected by emissions from the factory.
“Children have been suffering from respiratory diseases, colds and coughing all the time as a result of inhaling emissions from the plant. The government should act and save us from the risks we are exposed to,” said Awinja.
Another resident, Ndung’u Gatiu said the establishment and operations of the factory were shrouded in mystery as the locals were not involved in the decision making process and called for its immediate closure.
Documents availed to journalists show that NEMA had written to the owner of the premises instructing him to stop operations forthwith pending investigations, but the orders were not obeyed.
The plant was put up about a year ago but residents did not know about its establishment until they started seeing peculiar activities like vehicles offloading materials and carting away the egg trays.
