Last Saturday, I was in the city centre with friends when I got an incoming call but which I could not receive. Why, you ask? Because some street hawkers selling mobile phone lines were playing music so loudly you could not dare talk on the phone. There and then, I concurred with the government’s new regulations to control noise pollution in public places.
The new law, proposed by the National Environmental Management Authority says that all those who make unreasonable noise that is detrimental to the safety and health of others will be penalized, either by paying a fine of not more than Ksh. 350,000 or a jail term of 18 months, or both. This is meant to curb the rampant noise pollution in public places.
This puts at risk churches, mosques, matatus touts, hawkers, clubs and other businesses that are prone to making noise. Already, Church and Muslim leaders and business people are up in arms against this new law. The religious leaders see it as an infringement on their right of worship and assembly, while the business people claim that it is affecting their businesses negatively.
What I am asking myself is, how is the government going to implement this rule? If they say that any noise that is generated should not go beyond a radius of thirty metres, how are they going to make sure that happens? And how will the street hawker who has to shout to attract customers, or the tout, know how to control that noise? Is the government going to give people some kelele-meter to help them regulate the amount of noise they generate? Just a thought.
I hope this is not another avenue for the ever-greedy government agents, especially in the local authorities, to extort money from innocent people. Many rules and regulations that the government comes up with have ended up only helping some of its unscrupulous workers to line their pockets at the expense of generating income for the government.
But even as those who are going to be affected by this rule start to complain, I have a reason to believe that the rules will not be bent. The Minister in charge of the implementing ministry, the Environment, Mr. John Michuki has already said that there is no turning back on the rule. If you don’t remember, this is the same minister who came up with rules in the transport industry a while ago, which helped to streamline the transport industry for a time. Actually, he was able to rein in the unruly matatu touts and drivers.
So, people beware. I am sure that he is not going to change his mind. It is either the pollutants shape up or they will live to regret their breaking the rule. This is one minister that you cannot help but admire. He knows what he is doing and once the government makes a policy decision, he is sure to see it through.
For a long time, the Nairobi River was so polluted that many thought that it could not be redeemed. When Mr. Michuki came into the ministry, he promised to clean it and surely, he has done that. Today, the Nairobi River is not what it was a couple of years back. He is a man of his words. As a tax payer, I am happy to pay him his salary without feeling that I am being cheated.
As much as some Kenyans may have genuine concerns about this new rule, we have to look at this in the context of what has been happening in the country. In Nairobi for instance, there are places that are designated as business areas but where you find churches with loudspeakers blaring like nobody’s business, especially during lunch hour or in the morning. This is surely a distraction and a bother to other people.
In the same way, music played in some matatus can also be a pollutant, especially where the crews played music loudly without bothering about the feelings of the passengers. With the new rule, perhaps they will care about the concerns of their passengers. We also have business people, especially hawkers, who shout and call people to their stalls. In a place like Gikomba open-air market, they have turned the grounds into a place for shouting matches. This can be very bothersome.
These business people need to realise that there are other ways of attracting people and drawing their attention to their wares. You mustn’t shout to be seen or heard. Marketing ones goods is not just about making noise. How you place your goods and interact with your customers will play a big role in drawing in more customers. Let them just learn to reinvent themselves.
But at the same time, the government needs to realize that we have churches and other legitimate businesses that are located in places that have been rightly designated for them and which do not pollute the environment at all. These need to be protected. The groups that need to be reigned in are those that are a nuisance to the public and which operate from places where they should not be operating at all.
Without keeping these facts in mind, the implementation of the rule will be resisted by many.
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