Expose: Asbestos in Kenya
Asbestos continues to be used as just another construction material in building projects in Kenya, according to journalist Dan Okoth's article: Killer material is still used in construction published last month (April 2006) in The Standard. The asbestos menace is, according to academic Walter Ochoro, “a ticking health time bomb.” A conspiracy of ignorance and silence prevails over asbestos hazards with government officials stonewalling the journalist's requests for interviews. In the absence of statistical data, there is ample anecdotal evidence which suggests that Kenyans are succumbing to asbestos-related illnesses. Lecturer Ochoro says:
“The spiralling cases of cancer conditions in the country raise curious questions and there is no doubt a number of the cases could be linked to asbestos.”
Journalist Okoth illustrates the ubiquity of asbestos by citing the example of public buildings such as a 35 year old provincial hospital roofed with asbestos:
“the scenario at New Nyanza Provincial Hospital is rather worrying for the material used on the hospital's roof keeps disintegrating, especially during storms. Sections of the roof have been patched with iron sheets after patches of asbestos fell off leaving spaces for leakage. It is not uncommon to find pieces of asbestos scattered in the hospital compound. During cleaning, workers collect the pieces in wheelbarrows and dump them at a dumpsite, where children from surrounding estates retrieve the materials to play with.”
The Kenyan construction code, which dates from 1968, was categorized as “archaic,” and out-of-step: “Most European countries banned asbestos decades ago, but due to bad laws we still use the product,” lecturer Ochoro concluded, pointing out that the Local Government Building Order of 1968 did not mention asbestos.
_______
May 8, 2006
