Kisumu governor has expressed his patience limits that has dared motorists to stay on their best behaviour to take care of nature.
Kisumu Governor Prof. Anyang Nyong’o on Wednesday issued an executive order banning washing of vehicles along the shores of Lake Victoria and major water bodies in the county.
Governor Nyong’o said the move is the first step to success in the fight against the invasive water hyacinth weed which is chocking the Winam Gulf.
Speaking during Jamhuri day celebrations in Kisumu, Prof. Nyong’o said car washing activities which is rampant along the lake is the main point of pollution that sustains the weed on the lake.
“The year 2019 is a year to deal with hyacinth finally and decisively and this I promise I will do. Henceforth, there shall be no washing of cars in the lake or on any river within the county of Kisumu,” said Governor Nyong’o.
He noted that water hyacinth is threatening the potential of the blue economy by endangering maritime transport and fishing activities.
“We cannot sit by as this blue economy we have survived on for decades get destroyed by our own foolish industrial and farming activities.
We are therefore going to launch in this new year a war against hyacinth,” said Prof. Nyong’o.
He warned that those who will contravene the ban on polluting the lake will be dealt with accordingly.
“If you do so a high penalty shall be paid. And this believe you me is an executive order,” said the Governor.
He added that counties sharing the lake under the banner of the lake region economic bloc are designing a strategy to jointly eradicate the weed.
According to the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute Kisumu (KMFRI), periodic changes in wind patterns and human activities encourage the re-germination of the stubborn weed on the lake.
In January this year 10,360 hectares of the lake were covered by the weed.
Fishermen called for the county government to initiate disposal site where the hyacinth can be burned once it dries to avoid re-germination.
Some of the licensed water hyacinth disposal site in Homa Bay County include Alara Beach, Oginga Beach, Ngegu Beach, Rakwaro Beach, Achuodho, Kananga and Rarimba Beach.