This Easter, Kenya must eliminate asbestos before the next generation suffers its health effects.

In Kenya, an old roof is often mistaken for a reliable one. In too many schools, hospitals, and public offices, that assumption is dangerously false. What looks durable may actually be deteriorating because many buildings from the 1960s and 1970s still contain asbestos, a material once praised for its toughness and now known to be carcinogenic. Easter asks every nation a moral question: what do we do when innocence is burdened with a risk it did not choose? No child voted for this risk.

 The answer cannot be delay. The story of Easter is not just about the cruelty of the cross; it’s also about the failure of authority to act decisively when truth was in front of it. Pilate saw the moment, gauged the pressure, and washed his hands. Kenya must not do the same with children learning under aging roofs and patients seeking healing beneath materials that can release fine fibers into the air when damaged or disturbed.

 The science is more complex and serious than many public discussions recognize. Asbestos doesn't just cause lung cancer and mesothelioma. The World Health Organization, IARC, and ATSDR also associate it with cancers of the larynx and ovary, while evidence points to the pharynx, stomach, and colorectum, along with pleural thickening, pleural disease, and irreversible lung scarring called asbestosis. NEMA warns that once released, the fibers can stay suspended in the air for hours. A roof can therefore become a slow threat, not because it falls, but because it sheds. Yes, it sounds as complicated as it is extremely dangerous!

 The danger grows over time. Mesothelioma can take 30 to 40 years to develop. A standard three-child exposed today might face that risk in middle age. The science is clear. The shame is that the roofs remain.

 Kenya has already been warned enough. In 2025, Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee reported that NEMA had inventoried asbestos in 19 counties and instructed the remaining 28 counties to be surveyed within six months, including a medical survey and disposal plan. According to government documents and echoed in the petition now before the country, it was reported that 188 schools and learning institutions contained 3,180.5 tons of asbestos. That averages nearly 17 tons per affected institution. A prosperous nation should not burden its children with the threat of preventable disease.

 This is why the matter must now move from words to action. Through an organization I steward, we have written to the Government. If the upcoming budget again fails to establish a dedicated asbestos removal fund, publish a public inventory, and implement a supervised schedule for safe removal and reroofing, we will pursue legal action to compel them to act in the public’s best interest. This is not just for show. It is a constitutional obligation because Article 42 does not promise Kenyans a clean and healthy environment only when the Treasury is ready.

 Yet, urgency must be disciplined. Unsafe demolition can spread fibers further, which is why NEMA requires approval, licensed handling, transport, and disposal. But caution is not an excuse for paralysis. National leadership must fund and enforce measures. Counties must identify sites, coordinate replacement roofing, and protect local communities. Schools, hospitals, parents, unions, churches, and citizens must stop treating asbestos as old news and start recognizing it as an immediate danger. Leadership does not create value; it protects, enables, or destroys it.

 And there is even an economic truth here. Removing asbestos safely and reroofing public institutions can create dignified jobs for Kenyan surveyors, licensed handlers, transporters, welders, hardware suppliers, and young people in every county. This can support households, not conferences. Easter ends with a stone moved away. Kenya must move this stone now. If the State still refuses to act swiftly, the courts must compel it to do so. Pilate washed his hands. Kenya must not. Think green. Act green.