National Environmental Complaints Committee

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spread of EIAs into developing countries, including Kenya, primarily is because of external influences (Li, 2008).

Whether it was given by a corrupt official remains a NEMA document.

It is not that official that will be put into account; no, it is the organization. It is the body, NEMA. So, you find that sometimes they give approvals for building construction and staff. However, it is totally against their principles (Project Officer, GAF, Nairobi 01/2021).

Many stakeholders participate in large-scale projects of the nature Kenya is implementing (railways, roads, dams, electricity transmission lines, among others). This has a high likelihood of triggering impacts economically, socially, and environmentally by the projects and triggering conflicts. Therefore, EIAs safeguard compliance with the applicable legal provisions and constitute a practical tool to improve public participation cooperation at the international level and enhance the ability to get justice in the environment (Makarenko, 2012).

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NECC as an institution provides alternative dispute resolutions on matters relating to the environment in Kenya. It must receive complaints from public members on issues affecting the environment as an institution. As I note, many of the complaints arise from economic activities in different parts of the country and other sectors of the economy. This emanates from the fact that many industry players are unwilling to comply and look at their activities’ implications on the environment. This was brought out from an in-depth interview with a research officer at NECC.

People carry out developments without first carrying out EIA. They do not comply with the conditions of the licenses of EIA, so people come to complain that you know, such and such an industry is not adhering to the conditions of the license that was issued to them (Research Officer, NECC, Nairobi 11/2020).

Similar sentiments were reported in national newspapers where officers from NEMA have raised similar issues of non-compliance. We have had several cases of factories operating and house constructions done without proper clearance from authorities. NECC is expected to receive and handle complaints touching the current event and bear significant implications for the environment’s future. These include forestry, water, charcoal burning, sand harvesting, waste management, and human-wildlife conflict. The study argues that NECC does not have the human and financial capacity to handle all these complaints and find solutions that ensure the green futures as envisioned are achieved. When they have complaints raised, they are supposed to conduct an investigation. They depend on other agencies as well who have different mandates. With the devolved system of governance, NECC also has to work with counties depending on which county a complaint has been raised. The challenge I observe is that this makes it even much more complicated because of different primarily political interests. The existence of many institutions and agencies to help address the complaints raised again goes back to the intentional lack of clarity so that it is almost impossible to understand who is responsible.

Once NECC does its investigations on the complaints either raised by the public or on investigations that they initiate by themselves, they write a report and make recommendations to the cabinet secretary of the environment. NECC does not do enforcement work, and he decided to take action in cases where the environment is harmed; therefore, it rests with the cabinet secretary. The president appoints the cabinet secretary, and the national assembly only approves. In this regard, the person holding this position must be politically correct to keep their

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job. Therefore, it is naive to think that matters touching the political elites will be dealt with.

Even with NECC’s role strengthened by EMCA 1999 to handle environmental issues robustly, I argue that this will stay on the paper with no minimum actions to follow. This challenge is further exacerbated with the existence of the Climate Change Act of 2016, which has provisions that allow the Kenyan public to sue entities that deal a blow to the efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change. Therefore, the public is unaware of which way to direct their complaints.

The Climate Change Act of 2016 is the same one that established the National Climate Change Council with powers to impose obligations of climate change on the private sector (Odhiambo, 2016).

Complaints from public members arise because they are either directly or indirectly affected by specific economic activities in their day-to-day living areas. Health matters arising from the right to a clean and healthy environment as envisioned in the constitution are of great importance to the public. However, to the industry players, what is important to them is that economic activities continue taking place. They would like to take environmental consideration in their actions, but this is not an easy balance from expert interviews. This would be okay if they had their way without any interference from proponents of a healthy environmental future.

In this regard, the two visions of economic growth in a clean and healthy environment are challenging to achieve at the moment.

The work of NECC is further blinded by NEMA, which is the institution that the public is aware of. Several complaints are directed to NEMA. However, the study argues that the effectiveness of their actions after receiving complaints is questionable. Several newspaper headlines report about the institution’s warnings after receiving complaints from public members, i.e., the Standard newspaper headline read ‘NEMA warns Kajiado firms over pollution’ (Githaiga, 2018). This article reported that NEMA warned a factory that was due to start its construction against polluting the environment, noting that it ought to have all the documents required from relevant government agencies. This resulted from a dispute between a manufacturing company and a housing developer. The company complained in a letter directly to NEMA and not the NECC. This is why the study argues that this lack of clarity and duplication of roles makes it very hard to attain the environmental visions in Kenya.

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