By Christopher Omondi.
The County government of Kisumu in partnership with various stakeholders, including the FLLoCA, which stands for Financing Locally-Led Climate Action program in Kenya, a Government of Kenya initiative supported by the World Bank and other donors, built two facilities meant for waste recovery and management. One was built in Kondele ward in call box near Rainbow School with the other built in Railways ward next to Pap Mbuta. Both facilities are complete with the one in Kondele ward operating while the other in Railways ward is in a state of limbo.
For the residents of Manyatta in Kondele ward, specifically Call box area their facility is operational but most locals don’t understand its role and the facility itself. “This is some sort of debris, because this place is not regularly opened, the people that manage the facility are not doing much to popularize the facility’s role, is it a non-governmental organization?’’ said Anthony Odhiambo,a local who added that, “The facility has remained dormant since it’s opening in early June 2025’’.
During the opening of the Kondele ward Waste Recovery facility which was presided over by County Executive Member for Water, Environment, Climate change and Natural resources Judith Oluoch under the theme “Ending Plastic Waste’’, she promised job opportunities for locals and also proper management of wastes which is yet to be achieved with the facility being on its starting stages.
However another local had an eye-opening opinion on the facility, “I think if every detail is put to practice the facility can be a game changer because in terms of waste management as everything is being collected and recycled the only thing now is getting the wastes to the facility and this requires a lot of sensitization’’, said Mr. Philip Akatch.
However, the other facility that was constructed in Railways ward was equally completed but its still not operation citing calls from the public over its opening claiming motives to sabotage service delivery. Residents are demanding accountability as the facility was constructed to address the growing waste crisis yet it remains closed from the community it was meant to serve. “Every day this facility sits idle our environment continue to suffer and more youth remain unemployed and opportunities for sustainable waste solutions are lost’’, said Philemon Mwango.
The two communities call upon the relevant authorities like in the case of Railways they are asking FLLoCA who are the project supervisors to respond on why it is yet to be opened. In Kondele ward, the members of the community are asking to enhance the daily operations of their facility to enable employment opportunities and enable the proper management of waste.
