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Environmental activist
charged in court
by
John Kamau, Rights Features Service
(March 8,
2001) Kenyam leading environmental activist Prof. Wangari Maathai,
who was arrested last evening as she collected petitions to oppose
the intended excision of some of Kenya's forests, was arraigned
in court today.
Prof. Maathai,
of the Greenbelt Movement, was charged with holding an "illegal
meeting" at a rural Kenya village and was released on bond by
Kerugoya Resident Magistrate Nyaga Njagi.
The arrest
of Prof. Maathai today sparked a huge outcry from environmentalists
who demanded her release.
The trial
of Maathai was delayed for several hours, with the prosecution
saying it had not "received orders from above on how to proceed."
The renowned
activist, winner of many international awards, was seized yesterday
at a rural village in central Kenya, where she had gone to lead
the community in protesting the grabbing of a public utility plot
and collect petitions against the ongoing excision of forests.
Armed with
tree seedlings and a board that was to be erected at the plot
— acknowledging that it is a public plot — the activist
was bundled into her Land Rover and driven to Wang'uru Police
station, where she was locked overnight.
The officers
had insisted that Prof. Maathai give them 72-hour notification
before she could be allowed to plant seedlings at the site.
Local journalists
at the scene say that the police allowed the tree planting to
go on for a few minutes, but all of a sudden they threw the activists
driver out of the vehicle and drove off with the former University
of Nairobi professor.
"Those who
tried to follow the vehicle were chased away," said Mugumo Munene,
who witnessed the occasion.
The Greenbelt
Movement leader is leading a high profile campaign in Kenya to
stop the government from tampering with forests in Kenya.
Seventy percent
of the intended excision is in Mau Forest, the traditional home
of the Ogiek community.
Meanwhile,
the double-speak continued today within the Kenya government as
the minister for lands and settlement announced that the government
will degazette a further 10,000 acres from "small forests."
The minister,
Joseph Nyaga, said that this move will lead to "proper definition
of forest boundaries." But environmentalists here argue that there
is no logic in cutting down a forest to preserve it.
This comes
at a time when tension and tempers are high in the country as
Kenyans wait to see the overall effect of loss of 167,000 acres
of forestland in one sweep.
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