Editorials

EDITORIAL: Plug loopholes behind plastic bag ban violation

plastic

A fresh produce trader arranges her wares. photo | file

The Environment ministry won plaudits from around the world last year when it braved the strong tides of electoral politics to enforce a ban on plastic bags.

With eyes fixed on the ultimate prize, a clean environment for posterity, the ministry gave a deaf ear to the pro-plastic lobbyists, who argued that 80,000 jobs would be lost if the August 28 ban was effected.

But five months down the line, there’s not much to celebrate about this ban.

The laxity that has traditionally undermined rollout of public policy actions has apparently set in.

Plastic carrier bags have re-emerged in most grocery markets, thanks to thousands of smugglers operating at Kenya’s border points who are having a field day trading in the illegal bags.

Reports show that groceries mainly operating in residential areas of big towns have become the hotspots for the smuggled plastic bags, making a mockery of the ban.

To the law abiding citizens, nothing can be as demoralising as selective application of the law.

Kenyans have generally accepted the change, and most have shown a willingness to shoulder the extra cost of bio friendly packaging materials at shopping outlets.

Law abiding manufacturers have also been forced to look for alternative ways of utilising the extra capacity that used to produce the bags.

READ: Consumers hit as plastic bags trade goes secret

Yet as they do this, the State has apparently turned a blind eye on a thriving black market for plastic bags.

The environment continues to choke under the weight of plastic bags but there are hardly any cases of offenders being charged in court and made to pay the punitive Sh2 million specified in law as punishment for those found holding plastic bags. 

In short, the continued violation of law on plastic bags betrays lack of planning on the side of the government. It implies that the Environment ministry moved ahead of itself to impose a ban that it was ill prepared to enforce.