The press release has been issued by AFIEGO following a CSO petition to the Natural Resources (NR) Committee of Parliament on March 7, 2018 to address gaps in the National Environment Bill (2017). 

 

The Bill is currently before parliament for scrutiny and debate.

 

During the petition to the NR Committee, the 16 CSOs that are party to the  petition/memornadum noted the following gaps in the Bill:

• Failure to provide for avoidance of environmentally damaging activities in fragile ecosystems;

• Failure to put in place sufficient measures to guarantee NEMA’s Board of Directors and ED independence from political interference to secure the environment;

• Failure to put in place stiff penalties against non-compliance to the law in addition to putting in place provisions that could encourage negligence by environment officers and;

• Failure to provide for adequate citizen participation in environmental conservation etc.

The CSOs, which were led by AFIEGO, made recommendations to address the gaps.