• KeNHA said the only existing road is a 3km road aimed at easing congestion on Mombasa Road and does not in any way cut through the park.
• He said the road from the Embakasi ICD is clearly designed and follows path along the park joining Mombasa road at the Olesereni hotel.
A photo with lions sitting on a mound of soil next to an excavator suggesting an expressway is being constructed in the Nairobi National Park is false and misleading.
The photo posted on Twitter sparked social media outrage after a non-governmental organisation by the name Climate Change Kenya alleged KWS had allowed construction of a road in the park whose end results would destroy the park. https://mobile.twitter.com/ClimateKenya254/status/1275642527471882240
This photo was picked by James Smart, an 'award winning' journalist, who posted it on his account with an expression of sad reality that will hit the park.
Immediately the photo went viral with a mixture of reactions.
It received about 505 reactions, 7,000 retweets and some 11,500 likes. https://mobile.twitter.com/jamessmat/status/1275456463494721538
Lions at NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK watching destruction of their habitat to pave way for an EXPRESS ROAD. Saddest picture on the internet today. pic.twitter.com/KvGE075f2M
— James Smart (@jamessmat) June 23, 2020
The Star's fact-check desk contacted the journalist who admitted to having picked the image from Dr Paula Kahumbu, a renowned conservationist.
In our conversation, James Smart gave us some documents and referred us to Paula.
On checking Paula Kahumbu’s account, we discovered she had been in an exchange of words with some of her followers over the same photo.
Initially Paula under the hashtag #SaveNairobiPark posted the photo on June 23 and asked her followers to caption it. https://mobile.twitter.com/paulakahumbu/status/1275352280674570240
A day later, the conservationist while supporting a tweet by the Climate Change Kenya said, “There is a road being built in Nairobi Park - the Inland Container Depot Road - this photo speaks volumes about the destruction ongoing - no wonder it’s trending”.
She has since deleted the tweet https://twitter.com/PaulaKahumbu/status/1275666220335992834
The original tweet by the NGO read, “A road construction underway through NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK...the impact of human and wildlife interaction surely will lead to death of the wildlife. It seems Corruption has no boundaries”.
Another user by the name ‘Teachers Online posted the photo with a caption that read, “That the Nairobi National Park has been taken up for human development is a big scare to educationists, wildlife clubs and learners in Nairobi. Some years from now, our children will have no park. They will just be reading about it. The image of these lions tell the story”.
That the Nairobi National Park has been taken up for human development is a big scare to educationist, wildlife clubs and learners in Nairobi. Some years from now, our children will have no park. They will just be reading about it. The image of these lions tell the story,@eduint pic.twitter.com/Wsk2hgGZFy
— TEACHERS IN KENYA ONLINE (@TEACHERSinKENYA) June 23, 2020
https://mobile.twitter.com/TEACHERSinKENYA/status/1275525064621019137
The Star reached out to KWS to ascertain the truth of the matter and the service through its communication department issued a statement dismissing the claims.
The service said contrary to what is being reported, a contractor had embarked on improving the road joining the KWS headquarters to its Central Workshop inside the park.
"The correct position is that a local contractor engaged by KWS is improving the road joining KWS Headquarters to Central Workshop inside the Park,” the statement read.
According to the service, the contractor was scooping murram from a quarry near the Standard Gauge Railway for use on the existing murram road.
"The contractor will rehabilitate the quarry pit after completing the works on the road in accordance with an Environmental Management Plan approved and availed to him by KWS Management," the statement read.
Dr. Paula obtained a copy of the statement and posted on her account saying, “There’s a lot of confusion over a photo of lions on a dirt mound w/ SGR in the background. The original caption refers to the Expressway. That’s wrong. The image is a murram pit used for park road maintenance. The contentious roads in the park do not include expressway”.
https://mobile.twitter.com/paulakahumbu/status/1275723124332531713
The photographer of the image by the name Vishal. Shikotra came out and said it was unfortunate people were using the image to post the wrong information.
“This is murram being excavated for road repairs of the park. As a matter of fact KWS does not bring in soil from outside the park,” he said. https://twitter.com/swmaina/status/1275754270055370758
We contacted Eng Peter Mundinia, Director General Kenya National Highways Authority who said there is a road called ‘A’ that is connecting Embakasi Inland Container Depot and Mombasa road.
The DG however indicated that the 3km road aimed at easing congestion on Mombasa road does not in any way cut through the park.
He said the road is clearly designed and follows along the park joining Mombasa road at the Olesereni hotel.
This fact-check was produced by the Star in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie