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30,000 jobs at stake as Kajiado quarries face closure over safety

lenku

Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Kajiado County will shut down 90 percent of quarries that employ an estimated 30,000 people for breaching environmental regulations.

County executive in charge of water and environment Michael Semera said the closures to be executed in collaboration with the National Environment Management Authority had been arrived at after an audit of more than 200 quarries found most of them were not observing safety measures.

The audit was conducted a fortnight ago after residents complained about pollution from the quarries.

"During the audit, we discovered most quarries do not have any plan to refill the ground after mining building materials. Some quarries use heavy blasting despite being located near residential homes. They do not have any safety precautions towards their workers,’’ said Kajiado County executive in charge of water and environment Michael Semera.

"The owners of the affected quarries have been notified to comply within seven days or face closure. Most of these non-gazetted quarries are disasters in waiting. It is the county government to provide conducive environment to investors and also protect her people.’’

Kajiado has a high number of quarries that employ thousands of people.