Who We Are
Center for Litigation on Environment and Governance (CLEG) was officially and legally registered with NGO coordination Board of Kenya as Non-Governmental Organization in January 2023. This is after several years of individual initiative, personal sacrifice and risks including investigations into Environmental human rights violations in the Coastal Kenya by Ainea Ragen, the Executive Director of CLEG. He has investigated many matters related to environment, public lands and governance. Some already filed in Kenyan courts and at different litigation stages. He has in many occasions used funds from his own personal savings in investigating and filing some of the suits.
After a long wait, finally, the Kenya government through the NGO Coordination Board registered CLEG in January 2023. Registration of CLEG will help Ainea Ragen and a great team of experts he works with to expand and effectively empower other community leaders and defend the environment human rights of the Kenyan coastal communities who have been marginalized since Kenyan independence.
Kenyan coastal communities have suffered many years of Land and environmental injustice. Hundreds of thousands of families still live as squatters with no rights to land. This is coupled with poverty which has led many underage girls getting married.
This cycle continues and this has led to high level of illiteracy among the coastal communities. Many have resorted into charcoal trade which is a great danger to environment.
Non locals who are Kenyans from other regions who have settled among the coastal communities have taken advantage of the illiteracy among these communities and hence shortchanged them in matters of land. Corrupt government officials have also played a big role in aiding human rights violations among the coastal communities.
The greed for land coupled with corruption at various levels of governance at the Lands ministry has empowered private developers to illegally alienate water catchment areas, swamps and almost eighty (80) percent of Public land within the three counties of Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale. Charcoal burning has left these communities experiencing perpetual drought and hunger.
Recently, a report was shared with our organization of how a private company based in one of the counties has enticed coastal communities by offering free eucalyptus seedlings which they plant mostly in riparian and riverine areas. The impact of eucalyptus trees on water bodies is grave. Rivers and water body sources are getting dry while this company is making huge profits.
Mwakirunge Dumping site which has been illegally operational since 2007, has brought serious negative environmental and social impact. Many residents of Mwakirunge have contracted serious life threatening diseases, some have died, four of them were run over by trucks dumping garbage on the site and families were forcefully evicted from Mwakirunge land where the dumpsite is located. Sixteen graves are covered in garbage. Toxic chemicals are emitted from the continuous burning of garbage on the site. A laboratory test carried out by one of the licensed laboratories in Kenya revealed dangerous levels of toxic emissions beyond the recommended level.
This is a matter that was investigated by the Executive director of Center for Litigation on Environment and Governance (CLEG), Ainea Ragen and a petition filed at Mombasa Environment and Land Court ref. ELC PET E017 OF 2022. An environmental research and audit was also carried out by Professor Benards Okeyo, an environmental expert and a senior lecturer at Pwani University. The research titled; Mwakirunge Dumpsite: A simmering Disaster. Mwakirunge community residents have been of great help in giving crucial information and data that helped gather evidence against County government of Mombasa and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). A site visit to the dumpsite was conducted on 30th September 2022 by the judge handling the case.
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Contact Details
(CLEG)
Mwatamba sub-location, Kadzandani Division in Mombasa County, Kenya, EAST AFRICA.
P. O. Box
309-80100, Mombasa – Kenya.
Email:
info@clegkenya.org
Telephone:
+254739797025