In my 30 plus years of living in Kenya, I have never been this disappointed or devastated by our situation as a country.
We all have our passions, and our love for specific things; the variety of these passions make a country dynamic and vibrant. A country's leadership, therefore, is largely responsible to ensure that they nurture an environment that hears and seeks to address the voices of all of its citizenry. It is also the responsibility of leadership to protect everything within its borders!
In 1946 a community took a decision. They gave away their most valued asset - land - to the people of Kenya. This land was gazetted as the Nairobi National Park (NNP). It was to be a safe haven for wildlife, and endeavoured to provide a much needed wildlife corridor for migrating animals.
Over the years, the park grew in splendour. It became home to 100's of species of birds, flora and housed the ailing rhino populations of the country, amongst numerous other animals. The park had adjoined to it, the animal orphanage which catered to rescued/unwell animals. The first president of Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta declared the National Park a national treasure, a heritage that must be protected by law.
Over the years, visitors flocked and marveled at the bounty of nature within the park. Nairobi National Park was the ish! This was the place you could boast about to the world. Where else could you find a wildlife park (NOT A ZOO, mind you!) in the middle of a city?! Till date the views and wildlife sightings in the park are unique and provide a thrill that cannot be found anywhere else.
Nairobi National Park was famous, rightly so, and for all the right reasons.
It was a privilege to visit the park. And, the funnest thing to do. I remember writing the best compositions in school when it was about the park. Friends and I would perpetually exchange stories of park visits. How we would envy anyone who got an extra chance to be at the park! It was a place full of adventure, strange insects, mischievous monkeys, playful cubs, and gorgeous scenery.
As an older visitor, the park was an eye opener. Science, art, and natural wonder all joined forces here. It was heaven on earth, and a place to go to for inner calm and a sense of peace. It was the best place on earth, not only for me, but for tourists, and fellow Kenyan family and friends.
Come the late 90's and early 2000's the park periphery started to change. The change was subtle, and everyone accepted the development on Mombasa road. The frequency with which you could see giraffe and zebra on the roads to the airport reduced, but there was still a charm and beauty to the landscape that was still visible from outside the park.
And then came the advent of the southern by-pass. A road that was a "necessity" in easing city congestion. The by-pass ran close to the existing boundaries of the park. For lovers of the park, this was the first blow. With the road came buildings, people, garbage dumps, traffic noise, and pollution. But, the road was in essence outside the park - encroaching, and often an eye-sore - but still, outside. The park survived.
There was of course more incidents of lion sightings outside the park, not because they hadn't ventured out before, but because everything was more open now. Sometimes, this was a good thing
, people who hadn't seen wildlife had the opportunity to preen from their cars and be amazed by the frolicking animals. The flip side was that there was a growing number of incidents of human-wildlife conflict that led to the inhumane and completely unnecessary killing of Mohawk - a famous lion from the park - as he ventured on one of his day to day walks. Other lions too were killed for being their natural selves and wandering about the plains outside the park. The park survived.
2016 - rumours arose of a railway route for the new, "modern" (a kind request to pay heed to the italics, and the sarcasm behind the italics), and blood sucking SGR project that would go through the National Park. The absurdity of it is hard to grasp even as I write this. Why would anyone in their right minds construct a railway through a National Park? The park was in danger.
2016- 2017 - rumours turned to real life nightmare. It turns out that there were actually people foolish enough to cut through the park to build a railway line that was already costing the country too much. In fact the railway is going to cost Kenyans for generations to come. Logic, sense, and responsibility took a nose dive. The banana republic theory surfaced. Put aside the other absurd things that were happening in the country (This write up is not about those other issues, although they do follow the pattern of a lack of logic, sense and responsibility), the way in which the SGR Phase 2 vs the Nairobi National Park was playing out was a succinct reflection of the state of the nation.
Kenya Railways, supported blatantly by the political elite, decided that they essentially had ownership of the park. They also decided that majority of Kenyans are foolish, and that they could get away with anything by hoodwinking the public. The sad reality as I type this out, was that it worked. We had Kenyans shouting out that the park had no value, that the SGR would serve the country, that perhaps real estate had more place in the city than a park. I have never met more stupid reasoning in my entire existence. Not one of these theories were backed up by facts (especially since trying to fix a monetary value to quality of life is difficult). The leadership of the country - who swear to serve all Kenyans - went out publicly, declaring conservationists and people who loved the park stupid for opposing development within NNP. How mature! In fact - unlike me, who thinks the entire SGR is a waste of time, sense and all good things - the majority of people were simply saying that the SGR should be re-routed; that the other route options should be looked at, that the EISA should have facts and details on the impact and viability of all possible routes. What Kenyans got was a farce of an EISA: a hastily drafted document that was laughable. Thankfully, the official campaign team was able to tear down the fallacies of the document. They fought on our behalf and eventually obtained stay orders against the construction. Kenya Railways and its powerful government buddies slyly changed bills in parliament to override the stay order. The drama continued, and again, the campaign was able to have the courts reinstate a valid stay order.
For the time, the battle should have been won. But think again, this is, after all, a new Kenya (or is it an unchanged Kenya?) where impunity knows no bounds. In 2018, Kenya Railways, despite the valid court order, went ahead full force and started constructing the railway through the park!!!! Let that sink in. A corporate that is meant to serve Kenyans, disregarded the highest judicial office in the country, and went on to plunder a national, protected treasure.
The Kenya Railways had previously gone public stating categorically that they were completely capable of carrying out the works in the park with minimal destruction. They declared that they would paint the pillars in colours that would blend into the environment. You read that right - this was their grand solution to minimising damage to the natural beauty of the park. In the papers and on television, we heard that they would take care to complete the works early, and cause as little damage as possible. We should all be surprised then, that last week there were blasts in the park - blasts strong enough to shake the houses of the Emakoko lodge. If this is their way of minimising damage to the park - they need to grow new brains. Should I even mention the number of insects and smaller animals being affected, let alone the fact that they have cordoned off their illegal route, leaving little or no space for the animals to move across one region to another along the offensive fence they have put up? A few weeks ago, a buffalo was shot because it had chased a construction man - a man who shouldn't even have been in the park! KWS who have the mandate of protecting the park, have stationed people near the construction area to protect the construction workers. One wonders - who ordered them to protect the construction workers when in fact the workers shouldn't even be there? Why wasn't KWS arresting the workers for being in the park illegally? Below is a picture of the eye-sore that is now cutting right across the park - essentially splitting it into two! I did not have the heart to take more pictures, but there are many pictures on social media that show the intense damage to the park!
The equation has now changed from The Park Survived to Will the Park survive? And this is a severely dangerous change in dynamics.
Kenyans should be concerned at numerous levels. First - we are saying that protected land, gazetted land - whether it is a wildlife sanctuary or not, is not really protected - if a big corporate with ties to powerful people want some land, they will get it. Second, that the leaders of our country have no respect for the judiciary. This is an enormous fail - the judiciary offers the common man a chance to ensure that his rights, and the laws of the country are safeguarded. If our leaders cannot respect the judiciary, then we are far, far away from true independence. Third, if you are a minority, your concerns and your problems are not of any significance. Your issues will be converted to petty matters of race, popularity, and little nothings, and the minority voice will not be heard! Fourth, and perhaps the saddest of all, that our ideas of development are sadly misguided. The number of people who have displayed ignorance on development matters is shocking. There is a profound sense of hopelessness as I see people get excited about infrastructure projects but fail to see that the way in which these projects are carried out meet no standards and fall short of benchmarks world wide. Fifth - that we have devalued nature - Kenya today has a bagful of stories related to deforestation, land grab, cons in conservation, coal, logging... the list is endless. While I cannot say that there are no positive things happening in the world of nature, the stories of destruction are far more and currently outweigh the wins.
My Kenya was paradise on earth, filled with beautiful landscapes, animals and people. It was a country that had learnt to achieve balance with development and nature - in hindsight, the balance was probably unstable, tethering - but it was still there And now, it is just Kenya, a country that is fighting to breathe; a country that is choking from its greed. It has moved from a country that valued its heritage, its wildlife, and its people to one that is on the edge of suffocating in smoke, stupidity and politics.
How did we move from a wildlife haven to a country debating legalising game hunting? How did we move from nurturing our parks to plundering their resources because we are simply too lazy to find better ways?
While there are numerous things to debate, my primary concern for now, and in this article is the National Park. How do we stop this horror story from playing out? Already Kenya Railways is making demands to build a road inside the park - again an example of their incompetent planning and lack of foresight. Kenyans from all walks of life are waking up to the reality that the park is being targeted, perhaps eyed for its prime land - but when will we shout out loud to stop impunity? Even Kenyans who see little value from the park cannot justify the gross miscarriage of justice that is on going!
I say ENOUGH! NO MORE! I might not have the powers to fight the government, but I will not stop fighting for the park. I will visit the park! I will say no to development in the park! I will fight for the animals in that park, and I will fight for future generations of Kenyans, and tourists alike that they may see the wonder and beauty of a wildlife park in the city! I will fight for a part of Kenya that I have and will always love!
What will you do?
