Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir on Wednesday suspended all dumpsite fees levied against waste collectors a he moved in to clear the garbage menace in the county.

The governor also ordered the shutdown of all illegal landfills as he ordered that they be cleared within the next seven days.

Nassir was speaking in Tudor Ward where he had gone to supervise the clearance of garbage at the illegal dumpsite.

“We have deployed 40 trucks to help us clear the garbage from all the illegal dumpsites created across the county. This exercise will be done and completed within the next seven days, I have appointed my deputy Francis Thoya to see to it,” said Nassir.

While issuing the orders, Nassir said that the landfills were supposed to be used as transfer sites, but because of lack of order they ended up turning to be garbage sites.

The governor said that henceforth, transfers will be done directly to trucks.

“The public will be informed in the course of the week on where to take their garbage. The trucks will be stationed at designated sites,” Nassir said.

He added that the county will also deploy ant-damping officers in all the illegal landfills closed to ensure that whoever continues to dump illegally faces the law.

He however stated that the county will continue engaging in public participation to ensure that the public and all waste collectors are fully aware of the new changes.

“We have to achieve our agenda for a cleaner Mombasa within the next 100 days. We expect to see order in all the transfer points, there will be no more excuses or reasons,” he said.

The Deputy Governor Francis Thoya called on Mombasa residents to support the governor in his agenda to clean Mombasa.

The garbage menace he said has bedeviled the county for years even as he promised that he will not relent until the work is done as delegated to him.

“I want to put on notice all environment officers who receive bribes for people to subvert the law, your time is up. Magufuli is back” said Thoya.

 Thoya said that the county has the capacity to deal with the garbage menace, but they get overwhelmed because of garbage backlog.

According to a UN Habitat Assessment Report of 2019 released by the county, Mombasa produces about 900 tons of solid waste every day.

The county only manages to collect 60 percent of it with the remaining 40 percent finding itself on to the streets all the way in to the ocean.

The report also indicated that plastic waste made up 9 percent of the garbage translating to about 81 tons whereby only half of it is processed for recycling.