Maasai women to petition Uhuru over Nairobi national park SGR route

Ongoing construction of the SGR phase two inside the park./FILE
Ongoing construction of the SGR phase two inside the park./FILE

Maasai women will on Monday petition President Uhuru Kenyatta against SGR being routed through Nairobi National Park.

Organisers said women from Oloosirkon, Kitenkela, Emakoko and Embakasi villages will present their plea at Harambee House.

The group, dressed in traditional Maasai regalia, will converge at Uhuru Park at 9am before they match to the President's office.

The women will later head to KWS headquarters where they will stage a sit in.

The government has continued with public hearings on the SGR despite an environmental tribunal barring activities over the same.

The tribunal ruled that matters SGR be stopped until the case filed over the project is heard and determined.

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"The processions are not against infrastructure projects. We don't want those that are poorly thought out, environmentally unsound and abuse our natural heritage like having SGR pass through the park," Nkamuno Patita, one of the organisers, said.

"Our call to the President is to have the phase two of the SGR rerouted away from the our conservation areas. So far, Nairobi Park has had enough of assault and allowing SGR through it will be one way of declaring its death," she added.

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On Tuesday, the community together with game lovers will walk from Nyayo Stadium to Uhuru Park to join government officials in commemorating the World Animal Day.

"We will use this opportunity to send the message that the using the park for any sort of development is non-negotiable," a letter to participants send out on Saturday read in part.

The group will also walk to the Chinese Embassy and CCTV Nairobi bureau to deliver their petition.

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