Plans have been put in place to replace asbestos roofs in all government buildings as the campaign to eradicate use of the harmful metal ahead of this month’s deadline takes shape.

Environment Cabinet Secretary Adan Duale revealed yesterday that the National Treasury had been approached to provide resources for the roofs to be replaced.

Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Petitions, Duale said that government institutions and facilities across the country were the biggest culprits in the usage of asbestos.

“We are accelerating plans to have the roofing replaced ahead of the December 30 deadline,” said the CS. The CS who had in August given a three month ultimatum to government facilities to remove the asbestos roofing, expressed concerns that Kenyans were dying from mesothelioma, lung cancer and ovarian cancer all from the exposure to asbestos.

“I don’t think that anybody does asbestos roofing these days but you will find that in every village, in hospitals, government institutions and schools roofing is done using asbestos…fifty-five countries all over the world including the USA, Australia, have banned the use of asbestos as a roofing material. Kenya banned its use in 2006 but when that was done nobody bothered removing this asbestos,” submitted Duale.

“Today there are many Kenyans who drink the water from the asbestos roofs, whose piping in their houses are made of asbestos. I am not a medical expert but I can link the high cases of cancer in our country to the use of asbestos roofing. We have scientifically proven that, “he added.

In documents tabled before the committee yesterday, Nairobi County has the highest number of public and private facilities fitted with asbestos roofing standing at 92.