The Azimio la Umoja manifesto unveiled by presidential candidate Raila Odinga ambitiously seeks to transform Kenya on several fronts.
The 10-point agenda, as outlined in the manifesto, spells out the coalition's roadmap to prosperity. This 'elaborate' agenda promises to deliver change through empowerment, social equity, good governance, accountability and improvement of the health, education, manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
Scrutiny of the manifesto, however, raises some concerns about its intentions from a conservation standpoint. A section of its agenda four reads: “We will commercialize large scale arable but idle government land into productive agricultural enterprise”.
Whereas this seeks to spur productivity in agriculture and enhance food security, the assumption that there are vast pieces of government land lying idle is vague and misleading. It would be of good public interest if Azimio provided a list of the idle government land they are referring to in their manifesto.
In Kenya, there is a widespread perception that any undeveloped land or land not under agriculture is idle. These vast 'idle' pieces of land include forests, wetlands, parks, pasture and community land, and are easy targets for mega-development projects.
A good case in point is the Yala Swamp, Kenya's largest freshwater wetland. There is an ongoing push to allocate 6,764 ha of the swamp to a private developer for sugarcane growing, seemingly disregarding the wetland's natural values for biodiversity, climate and livelihoods.
Yala Swamp, coincidentally located in the Azimio's principal Nyanza backyard, provides critical ecosystem services. The wetland absorbs and stores water in times of flood and releases it in times of drought. Most importantly, the swamp filters and cleans the water entering Lake Victoria.
Biodiversity wise, Yala Swamp is a wetland of great importance in Africa. Lakes found within the wetland harbour two endangered Cichlid fish that are extinct in Lake Victoria. In addition, the swamp is one of the few refuges of the Sitatunga, a rare swamp-dwelling antelope, in Kenya. Large flocks of wetland birds, including globally threatened birds that live only in papyrus swamps, inhabit this swamp, which is also a designated Key Biodiversity Area and an Important Bird Area.
Communities living around the wetland depend on it for their livelihoods in the form of fish, cultivated crops, freshwater, fuelwood, livestock fodder, construction materials, genetic resources and natural medicines.
The Yala Swamp land allocation proposal is a contentious matter. It is interesting to note that some politicians affiliated with Azimio are rallying for the allocation to push through amid strong opposition from local communities. Locals deem the proposed allocation a violation of their indigenous land ownership rights and a threat to their livelihoods.
Sugarcane is a cash crop used to make sugar, a non-immediate food. As such, the allocation of Yala Swamp land for a sugarcane plantation will not enhance Kenya's food security. The idea of establishing a sugarcane plantation at the wetland is ill-advised, given that it is cheaper to import sugar than manufacturing it locally.
Many more 'idle' biodiversity-rich habitats in Kenya face a similar predicament. Any perceived intention by the political class to convert wetlands, forests and parks into farmlands is sinister and should be treated with caution.
Dr Paul Matiku executive director, Nature Kenya – the East Africa Natural History Society
