Kenya has quite a high profile in Africa. It owes this visibility to several factors: it is East Africa’s economic powerhouse, its tourist attractions – which are patronised by visitors from across the world – are top class, and it is the home country of Hollywood star Lupita Nyong’o and renowned pan-Africanist Professor PLO Lumumba.

Thus, the country, which also gave the world literary giants like Ngugi wa Thiong’o – whose writings have been used in high schools and universities for years – is often on the media agenda throughout the continent. In recent years, it has attracted frequent media coverage for its stance on plastic waste. In 2017, it banned the manufacturing, sale, distribution and use of single-use plastic carrier bags. Stiff penalties of $40 000 or four-year imprisonment were imposed for disregarding the manufacturing ban, while those found selling, distributing or using the bags are liable for a $500 fine or up to one year’s jail time.

Plastic waste is more than just an eyesore. Besides other negatives, it chokes marine life, as much of it ends up in seas and oceans. Thus, when Kenya took this drastic move it got lots of pats on the back from environmental campaigners.

But there has been a worrying development of late: US companies rallying under the banner of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) appear to be intent on pressuring Kenya to soften its stance on plastic waste.

In a letter to the Office of the US Trade Representative, written in April but leaked this month, the ACC called on the US and Kenya, which are in the midst of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement, to prohibit the imposition of domestic limits on “the production or consumption of chemicals and plastic” and on cross-border trade in these products.

The ACC’s motives appear to be more sinister than merely bullying Kenya into softening its plastic waste resolve. It seems the organisation wants Kenya to become the transit point for its member companies’ plastic waste to other countries on the continent. It stated in its letter: “We anticipate that Kenya could serve in the future as a hub for supplying US-made chemicals and plastics to other markets in Africa.”

Following China’s 2018 ban on most plastic waste, many companies, including those in the US, are seeking new places to send it, but many countries are saying they do not want it, which is why ACC members appear to be desperate for Africa to be their dumping ground.

Quite understandably, the environmental fraternity in Kenya has been appalled by the idea that the Kenya government, at the behest of the US oil and plastics industries, might weaken or do away with its ban on plastic waste. Kenya’s environmental campaigners were behind both the 2017 ban and the prohibition on other single-use plastics – such as bottles – in national parks, beaches and other protected areas. The latter ban came into effect in June.

More countries are imposing prohibitions on single-use plastic bags, with a global review conducted by the United Nations Environmental Programme in mid-2018 revealing that 127 countries had adopted some form of laws regulating plastic bags. More of these countries were in Africa – 37 – than elsewhere.

Kenya’s penalties for transgression were found to be the most stringent. The country must not yield to pressure. Its Indian Ocean beaches and vast wildlife reserves – the likes of Masai Mara, Tsavo, Meru, Hell’s Gate, Samburu, Amboseli and Mount Kenya – must be preserved in their pristine condition.

Future generations will surely curse Kenya’s current leaders, should they reverse the decision taken in 2017 to make Kenya a single-use-plastic-free country. This would eventually spoil its natural endowment. Surely, President Uhuru Kenyatta does not want such a legacy.