Nairobi Cows Turn Garbage Hill Around City Stadium Into Grazing Field
Citizen Reporter for Citizen Digital by Citizen Reporter
Published at 03:18 UTC on May 31, 2022 (EAT)
Nairobi cows transform the waste mound around the municipal stadium into a grazing pasture.
Cows rummaging through trash Photo/Courtesy.
Some of the city’s grazing cows have claimed that their animals are responsible for ‘cleaning’ Nairobi.
Our calves consume waste and overgrown grass from around the city. We should be appreciated and supported by the county.
Cows are eating their breakfast, lunch, and supper here. It’s likely that some of them will sleep on it.
At the island hugging the City Stadium roundabout, there is a massive heap of waste.
Those in charge of cleaning the area may not have noticed.
It is obvious that unscrupulous Kenyans who run different businesses next to the roundabout have turned the spot – in the middle of the road – into a dumping ground.
A few meters from this rich foraging ground, just around the City Stadium footbridge, is yet another mountain of garbage, right on the edge of Jogoo Road.
There is also this dilapidated building that looks like a waste processing plant not very far from ‘Mount Garbage’.
Here too you will find cows having their breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some of them probably sleep on it – as they wait for fresh garbage.
The Nairobi City County Solid Waste Management Act, 2015 section 36(2 and 3) states that any person who dumps, causes, or allows waste disposal in any premises, land or any other place not approved for such disposal is guilty of an offence and is liable of a fine not exceeding Sh200,000 or in default, to imprisonment not exceeding two years or to both.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) formed a team to enforce regulations on solid waste management in Nairobi.
The team would have regular and administration police officers and officers from NMS drawn from all the 17 sub-Counties of Nairobi. Their job would be to crack the whip on illegal dumping of waste and littering in Nairobi.
“The problem is not the cows roaming this area. The people who dump garbage on the roadside and on every available space in this area are the problem,” Ann Kamau – a trader around City Stadium told Wananchi Reporting.
“The county officers should put some CCTV in this area to help catch them. This is making our city to look really bad,” she said.
Nairobi is a rapidly-growing city whose demand for beef, mutton and goat products is expected to double by 2030, this probably explains why you will always find goats, sheep and cows roaming around the capital – and causing traffic.
Some of those grazing cows in the capital have maintained that their livestock play a big role in ‘cleaning’ Nairobi.
“These cows eat garbage around the city, they also eat overgrown grass. The county should appreciate and support us,” a man who was herding goats at an open space near Kikomba market to Wananchi Reporting.
Livestock keepers in Nairobi are subject to public disturbance laws and are eligible for heavy fines if they fail to control their animals.
Those herding cattle are also eligible to pay Kshs70,000 fine or serve two-five months’ imprisonment if their animal(s) cause disturbances in the CBD.
Meanwhile, the mountain of dumped garbage is keeping the cows happy and the city in the sun dirty.
