Kwale residents, KWS and county officials partner in town cleanup
By Mishi Gongo |
The exercise, organised by Kwale Municipality and conducted in Kwale town and its environs, aimed to ensure market centres, streets, hospitals, and other public spaces were hygienic.
To rid their environment of plastic waste, Kwale County residents joined Kenya Wildlife Services and county officials on Saturday in a cleaning exercise dubbed "Mazingira Yangu Jukumu Langu (My Environment, My Responsibility)".
The exercise, organised by Kwale Municipality and conducted in Kwale town and its environs, aimed to ensure market centres, streets, hospitals, and other public spaces were hygienic.
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The participants cleared the streets of Kwale town and extended the exercise to the Kwale County headquarters. The unclogged calvats, cleared bushes and collected litter.
"This is not a one-time exercise. We want to adopt this initiative by setting a day every month where we go clean our residences," said Kwale Deputy Governor Chirema Kombo, who led the exercise. "Cleanliness should not be a practice but a habit."
Chirema urged residents and business people to take personal initiative to keep the town clean, saying this was for their own good and asked the municipality to organise cleanups with the help of groups in different areas.
Resident Meswalehe Salim said one of their reasons for undertaking the exercise was to curb malaria outbreaks.
"Because of the rains, we have had malaria outbreaks. Bushes and stagnant water provide the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes so we had to clear them."
KWS Senior Warden Kwale Pauline Okode called upon residents to conduct regular clean-ups and properly dispose of garbage to ensure the environment remains clean and to fight the climate crisis.
"The plastic we are disposing of in the environment affects wild animals and marine life. Let us take it upon ourselves to keep our environment clean."
Noting that cleanliness is everyone's responsibility, Tsimba Golini MCA Mwachuo Mwaboza promised to purchase cleaning tools like slashers and wheelbarrows.
"Let's engage all groups in the area in this exercise to make sure we cover every place," he said.
In attendance were also county executives, Municipal Manager Amina Mwanawani, Board Chairman Seif Bendera, matatu transport association officials, scouts, representatives from the Precious Women's Group and the Kenya Red Cross Society, and conservationists.
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