|
Kenyan Parliament
set to open amid forest uproar
by John Kamau,
Rights Features Service
(March 5,
2001) When Kenya's parliament opens on March 20, the top of the
agenda will be the government's bid to excise 10 per cent of Kenya's
forestland, of which 70 per cent is the Mau Forest, the Ogiek
ancestral land.
Already,
the official opposition Democratic Party has filed a motion to
demand that the government safeguard the Kenya forests and rivers.
"We are going
to make it a very big issue," says Joe Donde, a respected member
of opposition.
The opening
of parliament comes at a time when the minister for environment,
Francis Nyenze, is under siege after he published in the Kenya
Gazette a notice of intention to curve out chunks of various forests
in the country.
"This is
truly tragic," says Paul Muite, an opposition legislator.
The campaign
to save the Kenya forests gained momentum today when the Kenya
Forest Working Group, a lobby that brings together environmentalists
and stakeholders, bought front-page space in a leading national
daily asking Kenyans to sign a petition against the proposed forest
excisions.
Although
the government says that the land is meant for squatters, members
of parliament and environmental groups say that the squatters
are being used as an excuse to give out the land to politically
favored individuals.
"The land
is not meant for squatters. The poor will get one per cent of
it to justify the allocation of 99 per cent to the rich," says
Mwangi Kiunjuri, who is moving the opposition motion in parliament.
Others say
that the exercise has the blessing of President Daniel arap Moi
since the minister cannot "just wake up one morning and think
of cutting down 10 per cent of forest cover without Moi's blessings,"
says Njeru Kathangu, a member of parliament.
And not only
the opposition is crying foul.
"Communities
should form vigilante groups to keep surveyors out," says ruling
party Member of Parliament (MP) Kipruto arap Kirwa.
One proposal
the MPs want to push through parliament is to have the current
Forest Act amended to remove the minister's powers.
"The Act
gives the minister powers to destroy the environment. It also
gives the president powers to act like the King of England who
owned every piece of land and could give it out as he pleased,"
says Paul Muite.
The argument
here is that the squatter problem will not be eased by giving
out forest land. "The government should know that there will never
be enough land for everyone…we are only reducing our capacity
to eradicate poverty by allowing greed and destruction in our
midst," says legislator Martha Karua.
And it is
such sentiments that await the government as Parliament opens.
|
