Visits to Kenya’s stalled projects expose rot, wastage

The pungent, fetid smell that engulfs Kinanie area, Machakos County is the only giveaway that the area is at the heart of a stalled project that would immensely change the lives of the residents in this area. They would once again inhale fresh, unpolluted air if an effluent treatment plant at the Kenya Leather Park- Kenanie is completed. But their hope to be soon freed of the fusty odour that has riddled their area is fading out by the tick of the clock.

Enclosed in a perimeter wall, the plant consists of idling installed machines and empty tanks. A stream of contaminated water snakes through this village that hopes for a lasting solution. Helplessly, the village soaks in the humidity of the hot-dry weather of this part of the county, and the smell from the effluent is as noisome as it can get.