By Benjamin Tipatet
Small, medium and big towns dot Kajiado County. Some clean, some fairly okay, but some so dirty as to make them unworthy of being inhabited by human beings.
The big towns have a ward administrator as the top official, an environmentalist in charge, and a handful of public health officers. One would be forgiven for thinking that these officers know that preventive is much better than curative health, and that it is indeed achievable. Alas, it turns out that this notion only exists in the fertile imagination of some idle and camera–happy bloggers and columnists.
Welcome to Isinya! This town is at the border of Kajiado West and Kajiado East constituencies, but hosts a market patronized by the other sub–counties as well.
This is where we have the Isinya Sub–County headquarters, which houses all of the above offices and more. The deputy county commissioner, deputy criminal investigations officer and officer commanding police division have their offices here. In fact, they reside in different parts of the town.
Senior and junior county government and other government officers either have businesses, residence, or rental houses here due to the vibrancy of the town.
Sadly, Isinya has now gained some infamy: The garbage and waste town! It is a town in which, despite boasting half a dozen public health professionals on the county government payroll, will have waste being openly disposed in broad daylight. Yet, this situation is not treated as an emergency. “Niko mbali” or “mteja wa nambari uliyopiga hapatikani” is the standard response from all concerned. Yes, call it witch hunt if you want.
The governor, MP, and MCA have at one point in time been called to contribute for treatment of cancer patients. They have dutifully done their bit as is expected, anyway. No one ever told them that in days to come, they would be hopping from one village to another; careless waste disposal is one of the major causes of cancer as it is swept into rivers and grasslands. The slimy poison then ends up on our tables as tomatoes, kales and other vegetables! We become sick, incur bills in millions, then appeal to our leaders to come to our aid. For cancer, sadly, only a patch–up job can be done. Depending on the stage of progression, one essentially stares at an imminent death.
Benjamin Tipatet is a social activist and a one-time County Speaker aspirant.
