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Environmentalists confront Kenya's repressive, anti-environmental government
The Kenyan government, headed by President Daniel Arap Moi, has a long history of violently suppressing peaceful environmental protest and organizing. Environmental defenders and community activists, such as Professor Wangari Maathai and Argwings Odera, have repeatedly been a target of repression by government authorities. For over a decade, members of the Greenbelt Movement, an environmental organization led by Prof. Maathai dedicated to empowerment of women and forest preservation through tree-planting projects, have experienced harassment, arrests, and beatings. In January 2000, Professor Maathai was hit on the head by security guards while police watched during a demonstration against the handover of public land to developers in Karura Forest in northern Nairobi. This was not the first time that Maathai was beaten or imprisoned for fighting to save Kenya’s forests. A year earlier, on January 8th, 1999, Prof. Maathai and approximately 20 of her supporters (including Members of Parliament and journalists) were attacked by private security guards as they attempted to plant trees in the Karura Forest. Police stood by during this attack, too. The pattern of abuse continues today. Environmental activist and investigative journalist Argwings Odera was forced to flee Kenya in June 2001 out of fear for his life. Working together with other environmental organizations in the NGO Coalition on Sondu-Miriu Hydro-Electric Power Project, Argwings Odera has actively opposed construction of the Sondu-Miriu Dam on the Sondu-Miriu River in Nyakach in western Kenya. At a December 26, 2000 protest, Odera was shot in the arm by police, dragged out of his car and beaten while trying to leave the protest, then arrested and held incommunicado for seven days before he appeared in court on January 2, 2001. According to reports, one of the police officers who fired on Odera admitted that they had been aiming at his head so as to "silence him." Argwings Odera represents a number of environmental organizations and local groups who are opposed to the Sondu-Miriu Dam project. The Coalition of NGOs are concerned about the lack of compensation for the households affected by the project, potential health risks associated with water pollution and clouds of dust resulting from dam construction, nepotism and corruption in the employment of local people for the dam project, and environmental concerns. The project, which is in early stages of construction, has already had serious environmental consequences – Kenyan and international environmental groups report that the project has disrupted the water table of the Kasaye Hills and caused streams to dry up, while the drainage systems are causing soil erosion. The diversion of river water threatens to destroy the habitat of indigenous wildlife. Citing "environmental disruption and corruption" as well as "a response to criticism from environmental campaigners," the Japanese government withdrew its funding of the project in June 2001. President Moi, angered by opposition to the project, described local resistance as "sabotage" and promised that the project would proceed even without foreign funding.Further Information http://www.irn.org/programs/safrica/sondu.991222.html Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
