Majengo residents bewildered with environmental degradation.

By Collins Lwangu Shahonya

The slum of Isinya typically referred to as Majengo, threatens to pose as a health hazard for the many that stay in it. From a far distant, one can paint a picture of houses built with corrugated iron sheets close to each other and neatly constructed residential flats.

But to a close scrutiny, you realize all is not well. Both biodegradable and non-biodegradable pollutants have been carelessly disposed in large quantities exceeding the natural capacity of the environment to assimilate them.

Majengo area in Isinya

Negligence and “throw away” attitude has beset people in this vicinity. Human waste has been released and dumped along the roads and footpaths connecting to the slum - an indication that environmental friendly facilities have not been factored in to counter environmental pollution.

Paper bags, used diapers and menstrual pads have also been carelessly dumped. A foul smell has dazed the air in this vicinity. A few meters away from Sheillan Khatienje’s house, the “great monster” lies; not secured and full to brim, spilling and running down to the road, perhaps due to the lots of rain being received in the area.

The sewage is characterized with lots of crows, vultures and flies assimilated in this dirty habitat. This poise to not only have a major detriment to the health of the people in this area, but also as a black spot where people with ill motives can harm others and throw them inside the “bubbling” sewage, never to be found again.

A cross sectional view of the sewage in Majengo-Isinya

Residents here cry foul and point a finger to the county government for not heeding to their call on the state of dirty environment they are lavishing in. Sheillan Khatienje, 37, a mother of seven and a resident of this area for the past nine years describes Majengo as “the neglected half of Isinya town”

“Nimeishi hapa Majengo kwa muda wa miaka tisa sasa na sioni mabadiliko. Tumeteta hii sewage itolewe hapa lakini hakuna vitendo” (I have stayed here in Majengo for nine years and I have not seen change. We have complained that the sewage be constructed at another place but there has been no action)

The County government should expedite an action plan on the state of environmental degradation in Majengo area and build an environmentally friendly sewer far away from homesteads, and incorporate the people in this area to realize and understand the importance of environmental sanity.