• The president said the park has been restored to its initial look and ending criminal activities that have been going on in the park.
• Uhuru also announced that the Cleaning Up Kenya Campaign shall be piloted in Nairobi City County, commencing on September 1, 2020.
Image: COURTESY
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday evening opened the rehabilitated Michuki Park in Nairobi County.
The park which was initially known as the Mazingira Park was renamed to Michuki Park by the Ministry of Environment in 2012, in honor of the late John Michuki.
Uhuru said that the park has been restored to its initial look and ending criminal activities that have been going on in the park.
“We have moved it from a safe haven for criminals to a place of serene beauty and peace; from blacken waters of Nairobi river to a swimming destination for ducks and mudfish; and from a lifeless habitat to a life-supporting ecosystem, leading to the re-emergence of birds.”
He continued that “We can restore the former glory of our great city of Nairobi, to what was referred to as the “green city in the sun,”
The president said that the opening the park was the early steps of re-making and re-birthing of the great city of Nairobi.
“We are here to affirm that a city is not great because of its lofty and towering brick-and-motor assets. A city is great because its citizens are great; and its environment is great.”
He also said that it is the citizens of the city that must make a covenant with the city to take care of the green spaces and their attendant species.
“But for this to happen, we must admit that we lost the ‘green city in the sun’ because we did not take care of it.”
He added that “We did not enforce the civic responsibility of the citizen to take care of the green spaces. And the citizens of Nairobi city were not organized enough to protect it. Because of this, and the rapid growth of ‘concrete spaces’ over the ‘green spaces’, there was a collapse of civic order and national duty in the city.”
Apart from rehabilitating Michuki Park, the president said that the government has targeted other green spaces for revival including; the Nairobi Arboretum, Karura Forest, City park and Ngong Road Forest.
Uhuru added that green spaces improve on the quality of air in the city and expunge the toxins emitted by our environment.
“And this is why we are targeting a 10 per cent forest cover across the entire country by the year 2020. Within Nairobi, Michuki Park is the first attempt at pushing this ‘green renaissance.”
Uhuru said that Kenya is not the only country reclaiming its green spaces from the hectic encroachment of concrete spaces.
“Mexico City, for instance, is working to rehabilitate the only natural space left in the city by reviving a natural Lake that had been killed by ‘concrete encroachment’. Singapore is also currently developing an artificial rain forest in Changi Airport, to fight the adverse effects of the expansion of ‘brick-and-motor’ assets in their cities.”
He further said that the parks are not only good in its green nature but are historically spaces of expression.
“Kamukunji, for instance, is the place where the national question on Kenya’s independence was posed and debated by Africans. Uhuru Park and Jamhuri Park bear similar historical significances.”
The president said the parks have represented activism for social change, hosted historical political moments, and harbored thousands of Kenyan childhood memories.
“And because they are spaces of national expression, recreation, and reflection, urban green spaces are the physical representation of the soul of the city. “
He lauded the restoration initiatives in the county, which is part of the Nairobi Regeneration and Beautification Programme, spearheaded by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
“My Administration notes with appreciation, the various restoration activities that have been undertaken in the last 3 months. The transformation is evident in the park we are launching today.”
The parks have registered low visitation since the country was hit by coronavirus, but Kenya Forest Service continues to register a huge influx of people visiting the urban forests and green spaces.
He also announced that the Cleaning Up Kenya Campaign shall be piloted in Nairobi City County, commencing on September 1, 2020.
The campaign is meant to mobilise citizens, business, industry, labour and civil society towards a common goal.
The campaign shall be anchored on the National Government Administration Officers at the local level and will be fit within the ongoing Kazi Mtaani Programme.