Below is a summary of the public notice posted by the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) in the Daily Nation on Tuesday 5th May 2015, pg 38.
-KeNHA seeks to use about 89 acres of the Nairobi National Park to construct the Southern Bypass
-To compensate for this land, KeNHA will purchase another piece of land adjacent to the park to be bequeathed to the Nairobi National Park
-The general public is notified to inspect the details of the proposal at KeNHA head office or KWS headquarters
-Any suggestions should be submitted in writing to the Director General, KeNHA. Blueshield Towers, P.O.Box 49712-00100, Nairobi or Director General KWS on or before 30 June 2015.
-A one-day public consultation meeting will be held on 3rd July at the KWS headquarters at 0900 hrs where oral presentations shall be submitted.
hapo ndiyo conservation activism imetufikisha. wakinunua hiyo land utasikia ka-NGO fulani kamekimbia kortini kusema ati bypass isiendelee kwa sababu hiyo land ndiyo habitat ya the long-whiskered mouse…
The public is fooled easily. You are allowed to scrutinize the details so that you can feel a part of decision making, but you really are not. Its just a ploy like a suggestion box.
By scrutinizing such proposals, it makes it possible to raise a red flag where inconsistencies or suspicions arise. That way, mistakes can be prevented before they happen as was the case with the laptop project. Preventing commission of errors is easier and cheaper than forming a commission at a later date to look into the same.
Asking as a layman… Sasa hiyo adjacent land watapanda miti na mimiea zing zingine ziwe kama zilivyokuwa kwa hilo ardhi lililonunuliwa? Na je wakipanda hayo mimea, itachukua miaka ngapi kabla ziwe jinsi zilivyokuwa kwa lile ardhi linalotaka kuuzwa?
The critical questions are; From whom will the compensation land be bought and for how much? Is the cost justified? What will be the effect of hiving off 89 acres (0.3%) of land along the boundary of a national park whose size is officially cited as 28,963 acres.
From all indications, it is possible that large money could soon change hands to buy off land that will not make any appreciable difference to the park, while inflating the cost of the southern bypass.