NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya went without official air quality data for nearly a year after the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) failed to pay licence fees for its monitoring equipment, the Auditor General has revealed.
In her latest review of Nema’s accounts for the year ending June 30, 2024, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said the authority’s Sh67 million air quality monitoring system was left idle between February and November 2023.
“The authority could not, therefore, generate air quality reports to disseminate to the public and other users during the period the equipment was idle,” Gathungu said.
The lapse stemmed from a standoff with a South African supplier after Nema failed to settle the mandatory annual licence fees.
The disruption left Kenya without crucial data at a time when urban air pollution has been flagged as a growing public health risk.
Beyond the air quality gap, the audit paints a picture of weak systems and underfunding at the agency charged with safeguarding Kenya’s environment.
Gathungu noted that Nema relies on self-declared project values from developers to calculate levies, with only one quantity surveyor tasked with reviewing thousands of submissions annually.
The setup, she warned, heightens the risk of errors, collusion and revenue leakage.
The watchdog further found that Nema does not maintain a comprehensive database of regulated facilities — from petrol stations and hospitals to factories and agricultural processors — undermining effective oversight.
The report also flagged delays in rolling out the agency’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which by December 2024 was only 35 per cent complete, with no explanation for the stalled progress.
Questions were also raised about governance practices, after the Nema board spent Sh5.6 million on field visits, a move the Auditor General said went beyond its oversight role as outlined in the Mwongozo Code.
Compounding the challenges, Nema is operating with 23 per cent of its positions vacant, leaving staff overstretched and raising concerns over the quality of service delivery.
The findings highlight persistent weaknesses at the country’s top environmental regulator, even as Kenya faces mounting threats from pollution, waste management failures and climate change.
