I had a run in with City Council askaris who wanted to put me in for general nuisance. Apparently a neighbour had called them accusing me of making noise. Luckily I had a copy of the General nuisance By-Laws with me and I pointed out to the askaris after lengthy argument that I was guilty of the offence only if I was making "unnecessary" noise. This was happening at a construction site.
The law reads:
Noisy Building Operation.
4. Any person who shall, in connection with any building, demolition or road construction work, causes or suffers to be caused any unnecessary noise so loud or so continuous or repeated as to cause an annoyance to occupants of any premises in the neighbourhood, shall be guilty of an offence.
So the argument was reduced to what constitutes "unnecessary" noise in a construction site! The main problem with the by-law is that it is so broad in its definitions, but it does not give specifics as to what "noise" is. I would have preferred a Decibel description of noise. The law just describes those guilty of an offence for example when: one sounds a motor horn, cycle bell or warning instrument except in the case of emergency, blows his nose otherwise than into a suitable cloth or tissue, touts for passengers, any person who discharges a missile in or near a street in a manner likely to cause damage to property or danger to any person shall be guilty of and offence...to name a few.
Some decibel examples to give power to the "you are making noise accusation" would be:
A garbage truck (85 decibels),
A jack hammer (88 decibels)
A car alarm (80 decibels),
The electronic chirp of the little black alarm clock (44 decibels from across the bed).
Discotheques with their bone-rattling blare (95 decibels)
Cars with that hyper bass beat (65 decibels from half a block away).
Occasional screams/shouts that ends a loud party (130 decibels)
This chart gives more examples.
NOTE: 85 DECIBELS - BEGINNING OF HEARING DAMAGE!
A quiet room is between 30 and 40 decibels. 30 decibels is what one actually hears in a desert. Most cities have 80 decibels set as their maximum noise level. Anything above that, one has to get a permit and noise generation is restricted to certain hours of the day. This might be an opportunity for the City council to generate income with yet another permit. These restrictions could include vehicle traffic on certain roads, construction work and parties.
To compare another African city with Nairobi check out Cairo (free reg. required).
By the way the By-laws allows you to keep a lizard as a game animal in the city without a permit!
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