The Ministry of Environment says there are about nine laws to protect riparian lands. However, nearly all these laws offer contradicting recommended riparian distance.
Environment CAS Mohamed Elmi recently told MPs these laws include the Water Act 2002, Agriculture Act, Water Resource Management Act 2007 and the Environment Management and Coordination Regulations of 2006.
Others are the Environment Management and Coordination Act CAP 387, the Environmental Management and Coordination (water quality) regulations 2006, Surveys Act CAP 299, the Physical Planning Act CAP 286 and Water Resource Management Act, 2007.
Nearly all of them recommend varying riparian distance. For instance, Environmental Management and Coordination (water quality) regulations 2006, puts the recommended riparian distance at minimum of six metres and a maximum of 30 metres from the highest water mark.
Agriculture Act CAP 318 recommends a minimum of two metres and a maximum of 30 metres. It, however, does not indicate from what point.
A new amendment also bans human activities within 30 metres of river and lake-shores and 60 metres from the Indian Ocean shores.
This directive is contained in the draft Environmental Management and Co-ordination (Conservation and Management of Wetlands) Amendment Regulations, 2018.
Water Resources Authority CEO Mohamed Shurie does not specify which law guided the planned reduction of Lake Naivasha riparian land. However, Shurie defends the plan, saying it was anchored in law.
The Star learnt the Environment ministry has directed WRA to suspend the exercise briefly, following the public outcry.
Shurie says the exercise was necessitated by increased encroachment by developers, farmers and other land use practices into the lake.
"Pollution into the lake has also been of great concern to the authority," he wrote in a letter sent recently to the ministry, and seen by Star.
Shurie says the exercise will be revisited soon. Reactions to the advertisement calling for comments will be considered in the development of water resources regulations contemplated under the Water Act, 2016.
"In the intervening period, the Lake Naivasha Protection Order, 2011, remains in operation, as pertains the Lake Naivasha Catchment," he said.
The move is a temporary relief to hundreds of fishermen who will be affected if the government moves the boundaries.
In Kamere beach, one of the lake's four beaches, there are more than 150 fishermen who depend on the riparian for their fishing activities. The fishermen earn about Sh30,000 a month each.
They complain of human-wildlife conflict at the beach because hippos also depend on the riparian for pasture.
A corridor they used to access the lake is another challenge, as a local investor with land near the lake claims the road is part of his land and often blocks them from using it.
He has used police officers to harass and arrest the traders and fishermen several times, and many have been dragged to court.
HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT
Kennedy Waweru, a fisherman, says they contribute to the economy and sees no reason for the authority to propose the reduction of the riparian area.
“All they want is to evict the fishermen and traders whose source of income is from this lake, and the government has just kept quiet on this issue,” Waweru says.
He says some private developers have already constructed permanent structures near the lake in preparation for the reduction of boundaries.
“If the riparian is reduced, this means human-wildlife conflict that we experience is going to increase, and also we believe that the land which will be created towards the lake is going to be fenced, denying us the way to the lake for our fishing activities,” he adds.
Another trader, Ruth Mumbi, says her husband was killed by a hippopotamus in December, 2016, but has never been compensated by the Kenya Wildlife Society.
Her husband had gone fishing when the tragedy happened.
“Sometimes, I have no money to buy the fish from the fishermen that I can sell, and this makes us go for days with no food. I appeal to the government to help me and many other people here at the lake who we have similar cases,” Ruth says.
She says many traders in Kamere Beach will be left jobless with no way to fend for their families, if the proposal for reduction is validated.
David Kilo, a fisherman and a chairman of the boats association, said: “The idea of reviewing the riparian land and the boundary is not for the benefit of the community. WRA should have held a public participation to explain their motive and we give them our take.”
Kilo says the reduction will affect the breeding site of fish and birds, animal habitat for hippos and waterbucks that depend on the riparian as grazing zones.