Kenya: Phyllis Omido, a fierce environmental activist

In Kenya, Phyllis Omido campaigns to protect the population from the harmful effects of toxic waste produced or operated by industries. As a former employee of a smelter, she denounced it for being the source of lead poisoning responsible for numerous health problems in children and infant mortality in the country’s slums and disadvantaged areas in Kenya. In 2014, she won her case, which led to the definitive closure of this factory and many others later on.

It is not without reason that the Kenyan Phyllis Omido is compared to Erin Brockovich, the American environmental activist who exposed water pollution in California in the 1990s that led to deaths and serious illnesses such as cancer. In Kenya, the young woman is committed to putting people’s health above all other economic considerations and the development of certain industries. She stood out by helping to shut down a company whose activities were harmful to public health.

With a degree in management from the University of Nairobi, she worked in industries in Kenya, including a factory that specialised in extracting used car batteries in the Owino Uhuru slum. The company, which exploited lead from used cars and had been operating since 2007, was also releasing lead fumes into the environment, land and water, poisoning the waterways used by residents for bathing and water supply. In 2009, as a human resources manager at the plant, she conducted an environmental impact study with an expert from the National Environmental Management Authority. The study revealed that the factory had to be closed because of its huge environmental impact, but the company’s management rejected the findings.

A year later, in 2010, the case took a personal turn for the young woman when her son fell ill. And the analyses carried out revealed lead poisoning, a consequence of the factory’s activity. To find out for sure, she decided to do medical tests on three other children in the region. The analyses revealed high levels of lead in the blood of the children.

She then began a campaign to close the factory and founded the organisation “Centre for Justice, Governance and Environment”.

Her commitment to stopping the activities of this factory earned her and her son threats and attacks in 2012. Faced with the silence of the authorities, the government and the companies, she decided to organise demonstrations. She was arrested and imprisoned… for “inciting violence and illegal assembly”. But the judge cleared her and concluded that her action was in accordance with law.

She subsequently obtained the support of several organisations and met the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxic Waste. This high-level meeting prompted the Kenyan Senate to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the company’s activities. The factory was finally ordered to close permanently in 2014.

After winning this case, she became fiercely committed to the environmental cause. Through her lobbying, she obtained the relocation of three toxic waste smelters in poor, urban areas to other parts of Mombasa city.

In 2015, she was one of six people to win the Goldman Environmental Prize for global environmentalists. In 2020, she was also ranked among the 100 BBC Women.