Traders at Soko Mjinga market in Lari of Kiambu County have been told to stop giving bribes to people posing as officers from the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA).
The Kiambu County director of NEMA Mr., Stephen Kimutu speaks to the traders at the market.
The suspected extortionists have been frequenting the market located along the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway extorting money from innocent traders reportedly not to press charges against some who are still using polythene papers to wrap the farm produce for the customers.
During an inspection of the market yesterday, the traders revealed to the director of NEMA in Kiambu Mr. Stephen Kimutu that some people had been frequently visiting the market to apprehend those who are still using the polythene papers.
They said the people had been purporting to be officers from NEMA frequently visited the market and after traders “bribed them” they left with a caution to traders to stop using the papers.
The director cautioned the traders that all officers conducting business in the market should display their identification tags.
He cautioned them to report such people to the chairman of the market for further action.
The traders also confessed that some business person with a lorry had been coming to the market once in a week to supply the polythene bags which were outlawed by the government in August 2017.
“Whenever he came, the traders said scores of those selling mostly peas, carrots, cucumbers and fruits purchased a large stock that would take them a whole week.
During the exercise, the director told the traders that it was their duty to ensure that nobody used the outlawed polythene carrier bags.
“You traders will now do self-regulation and hand over any of your colleagues who are still defying the law and using the papers;Failure to comply, the government will have no choice but to close down the market’, Mr. Kimutu said.
He explained to the traders that they were capable of protecting their businesses by exposing the few bad elements in their market so that they did not spoil for those that had complied.
He reiterated that for the sake of the environment, everybody was required to play their part in conserving it by ensuring that they only used items that could not destroy our habitation.
The future of this Nation, Mr. Kimutu noted depended on how best the environment was being taken care of and that the government would not relent on her efforts to bring to book those who defied the law.
The chairman of the Market Mr. Samuel Njenga promised to support NEMA in the eradication of the polythene carrier bags.
He said he would hand over any trader who would continue using the outlawed papers.
Some traders were of the opinion that only a few of those who were still not compliant should be dealt with so that the market was not closed because “of what they referred to as a few rotten eggs” who did not want to comply.
By Lydia Shiroya
