Threatening Meat Shortage as Gov't Directs Closing of all Kiamaiko Butcheries.
The government, through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), has ordered the closure of all 15 abattoirs in Kiamaiko, resulting in a potential meat crisis in Nairobi.
Leah Mukangai 
According to online sources, the environmental authority informed the press on Sunday, January 30, that all abattoirs had one month to shift to a new facility in the Lucky Summer area.
Since the introduction of the Lucky Summer Facility by President Uhuru Kenyatta, slaughterhouse operators have ignored it.
The shutdown order is part of NEMA's broader crackdown on all facilities that pollute the Nairobi River. According to the government agency, the slaughter houses were functioning in an unsanitary manner.
"The issue of Kiamaiko, I think has been a thorn in flesh for NEMA for a number of years. It is a slaughterhouse which is very close to Nairobi River and has the potential to pollute our river ecosystem.
"For us NEMA, we have given them order to relocate to the new site and this is the order that must be enforced," reported NEMA Director General, Mamo Boru.
NEMA Director General, Mamo Boru.PHOTO FILE
Mamo Boru further stated that the organization had engaged in a dispute with abattoir owners regarding their hygiene since 2015.
In an assessment conducted by NEMA in December 2020, the government discovered that the eight criteria imposed on the slaughterhouses had not been met.
"They did (the assessment) and the recommendation was that they now need to move. We have given them the month of February to organise themselves and move to the new site. There are no extensions. We have engaged them for long and now they need to move," stated Mamo.
The slaughterhouse operators had refused to move into the Lucky Summer facility claiming that they would build their own along Kangundo Road in Njiru, but the project has since been halted.
