Editor's Review

The officers were acting on complaints from residents decrying noise from the church.

Nairobi County Chief Officer of Environment Geoffrey Mosiria led his team to raid a church that was carrying out a service late Friday night, September 13.

Mosiria, who filmed the events, said he had sent a warning to the church following complaints from residents.

In an open defiance to the advisory, the said church opened its doors to the faithful for the night service.

Their undoing was the loudness of the musical instrumental playing during the service.

Mosiria said the findings of a decibel meter showed the church was loud beyond measure.

The neighbours of the church decried noise.

"We received complaints; we thought the church would take responsibility, but it did not. Our machine shows the sound is extremely loud. We found that the noise is 65dB heading to 70dB, far from the recommended 35dB," said Mosiria.

He sought an audience with the resident preacher, whom he informed of the neighbours' plight.

They were having difficulty enduring the noise in their sleep.

"The neighbours wrote to us complaining of the noise. Most of them have small children and, therefore, cannot sleep. It is not fair. They ought to limit the noise," said Mosiria.

The county officers warned further action would be taken should the church fail to heed the verbal advisory.

The county officials dealing with the environment have been enforcing measures in the city to keep the standards.

Besides the church, they have been making impromptu visits to markets and residential areas to assess the situation.

In several cases, traders have been apprehended for environmental malpractices, and residential areas have been earmarked for closure due to failure to uphold hygiene standards.

Within the city, civilians caught spitting or urinating in public were not left out of the dragnet.

Most were arrested and punished.