Page 70 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 26

Art & Culture

in Nairobi City County.
Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat,
an outgoing chairman
of the Africa Union, has

encouraged various countries
to come up with creative
strategies that would address

the challenges of climate
change. In his State of the
Union address at the Capitol
in Washington, D.C., former
President Barack Obama of

the United States once said
that no problem threatens the
current generation more than

the challenges of climate
change. The President of
Rwanda, Paul Kagame, has Title: Chokora | Artist: Patrick Esenerwa | Medium: Plastic
gone on to institute laws
forbidding the use of plastic. roaming around, taking bribes from anyone found with a

He went further and initiated Jawala (polythene bag). NEMA cautioned the general public
a clean-up program for the on the radio that reusable bags were more hygienic and
public to make Rwanda a durable compared to Jawala on top of my mabati house. I

green country. Similarly, increased the volume of my small radio so that my neighbor
Kenyan law has gone ahead would hear it.
and banned the use of single-
use plastic through Kenya The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
Gazette Notice No. 2356. has laid out a roadmap to dramatically reduce the risks

of plastic waste in the environment. The road map is
The National Environment absolutely keeping plastic waste out of ecosystems. The
Management Authority UNEP vision plan wants to end plastic pollution and create

(NEMA) went on to give an a healthier environment that is friendly to human beings.
alternative option of carrier In 1977, Professor Wangari Maathai founded the Green
bags. During this period, Belt Movement (GBM) under the auspices of the National
I recall that the streets of Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK). It is responding to
Mathare were filled with conserve natural resources and protect the environment. The

female hawkers selling initiative has inspired the educational system in Kenya and
reusable bags, and plain organizations to preserve and protect ecosystems through
cloth askaris and kanjos were the government’s constitutions and county government by-

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