Plans by the East African Legislative Assembly to enact a law banning trade in polythene materials as part of efforts to conserve the environment, have put Kenya in a dilemma.

Kenya, as the biggest economy it the region, has to choose between taking the lead in protecting the environment, or opposing a law that will result in job losses at home.

For the moment, it appears to be choosing the second course.

The private member’s Bill by Rwanda’s Patricia Hajabakiga seeks to prohibit trade in polythene materials unless special clearance is granted by the national environmental standards regulators.

The Bill, which is currently in its second reading, will regulate manufacturing, sale, importation and use of polythene materials.

But Kenya is planning to appeal, on the basis that it will result in massive job losses.

By seeking to appeal, Kenya is essentially admitting to other EAC members that it is unable to deal with the plastic menace at home.
East Africans would have expected that Kenya would support such measures, if only as a tribute to the world-renowned environmentalist, the late Prof Wangari Maathai. But the Kenyan record on regulating polythene is poor.

In 2007, the government imposed a 120 per cent excise duty on plastic bags of 30 microns and above as a means of avoiding further environmental degradation. This law was never implemented.

Again in 2005, the government rescinded a similar ban due to the redundancies that it was going to cause, especially among the low-income earners.

Kenya hosts the majority of plastic manufacturing plants in East Africa in a sector that employs about 30,000 Kenyans.

There are about 42 manufacturing units in Kenya alone with an estimated total investment of about Ksh43 billion ($430 million). The sector contributes Ksh1.5 billion ($150 million) annually to the Treasury.

But then, the impact on the environment is devastating. Kenyan supermarkets hand out 80,000 plastic bags every day. About 100 million plastic bags are dispersed into the environment annually, with Nairobi receiving about two million.

So, while plastic bags have served the Kenyan shopper well because they are cheap and convenient, they have been an environmental disaster.

The Nairobi River is just one of the victims of the serious pollution caused by poor and careless disposal of plastic bags over the past two decades.

The government should now bite the bullet and make some difficult choices for the sake of posterity.