The East
African Legislative Assembly (EALA) members are headed for a major
showdown as Rwanda pushes on with its bid for a total ban on use of
polythene bags in the region.
The EAC Polythene
Materials Control Bill, 2016 moved by Rwanda’s Patricia Hajabakiga tops
the agenda of EALA’s two-week special session which begins in Nairobi on
Monday. Use of polythene bags is illegal in Rwanda.
“The
Bill, 2016 aims at providing a legal framework for the preservation of a
clean and healthy environment through the prohibition of manufacturing,
sale, importation and use of polythene materials,” EALA said in a
statement last week.
The light non-biodegradable
plastic bags – primarily used for packaging at retail stores– have been
cited as top environmental nuisance across East Africa.
The
civil society campaigners across the region have been united in their
call for total ban on use of polythene bags which are also seen as
posing health risks to citizens.
This is the second
time that Ms Hajabakiga will be trying lobby the regional
parliamentarians to adopt the law banning use of plastic within the
trading bloc.
She first introduced the same bill in
2011, attracting resistance from Kenya, which hosts most of East
Africa’s established plastic bag manufacturers.
Kenya
had petitioned the EAC Parliament to introduce a levy instead of
imposing a blanket ban on polythene bags as Rwanda had proposed.
It
opposed the ban on grounds that the multi-billion shilling investments
in the sector would be affected, leading to loss of thousands of jobs.
Kenya
has previously tried to rein in pollution from polythene materials but
lax enforcement has left many suburbs and rivers choking with the waste.
In
2007, the Treasury moved to slap a 120 per cent levy on plastics to
protect the environment from degradation. It also proposed a ban on very
thin plastic bags.
Protests from traders that the 120
per cent tax would make the plastic bags too expensive forced the
parliamentary committee on Trade and Finance to propose introduction of a
green tax instead.
“Generally, stakeholders in Kenya
suggested adjustment to specifications of polythene materials other than
total ban and the introduction of a levy to allow Nema to manage the
waste,” EALA said in a statement issued after a serious of public
consultations held across the country.
Kenya may find
itself isolated when the Bill comes up for debate in Nairobi this
week. Tanzania has since enacted a national law which bans the use of
plastic bags from January.
Uganda – which has
acknowledged challenges in the disposal of plastic wastes due to absence
of recycling facilities within its borders– has since indicated
willingness to fully implement a law on control of polythene materials
which it passed in 2009.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is scheduled to address the special session of EALA on Tuesday next week.
Also
to be debated during the two week period is the EAC Gender Equality and
Development Bill, 2016 which may put Kenya on the spot over its own
constitutional implementation record.
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