• For 66 years, communities in Yala will be as poor as those in Mumias.
• Cane cutters are paid slave labour. Tourism is now forgotten in this tourist hotspot.
Image: DICKENS WASONGA/FILE
The National Land Commission in its Yala Swamp allocation determination, subverts the interest of the local people instead of protecting community interests as required by the Constitution.
The Constitution recognizes NLC as the administrator of land held by county governments in trust for resident communities. However in Yala, NLC has decided to retire community rights and turn communal land into private land by allocating a private company 6,763.74 Ha for their use.
Local community voices did not matter. In all manner of community-organised groups, they objected to the land allocation. NLC commissioners, led by their chairman, decided to stage-manage the process to ensure that the land was allocated for a whopping 66 years to Lake Agro Limited to grow sugar cane.
For 66 years, communities in Yala will be as poor as those in Mumias. Cane cutters are paid slave labour. Tourism is now forgotten in this tourist hotspot. Carbon sequestered by the Yala Swamp is gone completely. Lake Victoria waters will be polluted as the water filtration services provided by the wetland have disappeared courtesy of the NLC's decision to subvert the interests of the local communities and the wishes of the global community. Now floods will rampage, and drought will hit harder.
Why does this wetland occur here?
NLC seems totally ignorant of science. A swamp forms because of a natural process of sediment deposition, which slows the rate at which water enters the main water body - Lake Victoria. Clearing of the papyrus will lead to the free flow of chemicals and sediments into Lake Victoria, immediately killing fish, the fish-related economy and food supplies. Then the wetland will dry up and join the rest of the surrounding dry areas.
Common sense has it that this critical resource should be kept for its invaluable ecosystem services. NLC, however, does not see it that way. All they see is sugar from sugarcane. They see cane cutters as employment. They ignore fish as food. They ignore Lake Victoria's fish-based economy. NLC does not see tourism. They do not see biodiversity. They do not see carbon sequestration.
Mr President, the people of Yala call upon you to avert the destruction of their wetland. Yala Swamp is a precious natural asset. As such, Yala Swamp must be conserved and sustainably utilised for the prosperity of communities and biodiversity and not serve the interests of self-centred entities.
Dr Paul Matiku is the executive Director Nature Kenya - the EANHS