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Explain Policy on Forests
The Nation (Nairobi)
EDITORIAL
October 4, 2004
Posted to the web October 4, 2004
Nairobi
Environment Assistant Minister Wangari Maathai is not given to
melodrama, and so when she declares in public that she would rather lose her parliamentary seat than sit back and watch as forests are turned into farmland under the so-called shamba system, Kenyans should take notice.
This is because, considering her pedigree as an environmentalist, there should be no reason to suppose that she could be playing for the public gallery.
The bone of contention is whether those who border forests should be allowed to cultivate on the fringes while at the same time replenishing the forests by taking care of tree seedlings, ostensibly provided by the Government,
For years, the shamba system has been the mainstay of vast numbers of people. So when the Government banned the system, there were howls of protest from the representatives of those poor people, but the Government remained firm.
But when Minister Kalonzo Musyoka, in one of his first officials actions in the environment docket revoked the ban, he only succeeded in confusing everyone.
What, actually, is the Government stand on the issue? Is the shamba system sustainable or is it one of the most efficient ways of denuding our remaining forest cover? Who should now be heard; the Environment minister or his
assistant?
It is necessary for the Government to come out clearly on what the official policy on forests is, or should be. There must be enough experts in the ministry to advise the political leaders, who should then put their heads together and stop sending conflicting signals to Kenyans.
Most decidedly, it would be stupid for anyone to play populist politics with matters of life and death, and our trees are just
that.
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