OPERATION FIRIMBI Blow the Whistle Campaign
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J U W S O BULLETIN T L N A N M D R E F O R OPERATION FIRIMBI Blow the Whistle Campaign for JUST LAND REFORM S R against LAND GRABBING W G E T S O O N T N P I O D B and CORRUPTION in Kenya R N L A B E A N A Firimbi Bulletin published by Mazingira Institute PO Box 14550 Nairobi 00800 G L D G R R A B B E D Tel: 254 20 4443219/26/29, Fax: 254 20 4444643 E-mail [email protected], Website: www.mazinst.org Issue No. 43 March 2016 Land grabbing in Nairobi City County n Friday, November 27, 2015 during his historic visit to Kenya. Pope Francis highlighted to a Oglobal audience the pervasiveness of the blatant grabbing of public land, including playgrounds set aside for primary schools by well connected elites. He said, “let us pray and work to ensure every family has access to dignifi ed housing, drinking water and other basic services. I am aware that faceless developers have attempted to give themselves the playgrounds of your children’s schools”. Some of these speculators are perched atop the political ech- elons of this country. As the angry public protests illustrated, Kenyans from pre-teen pupils to ageing grandmothers have loudly said no to the culture of impunity, swelling the ranks of the Piga Firimbi (Blow the Whistle) brigade who are determined to name and shame the agents of corruption, public theft and bad governance. In a very large measure this is a great vindication of the long campaign initiated by the Mazingira Institute in the mid nineties known as the Operation Firimbi campaign. Indeed this very bulletin is an offspring of that grass roots mobilization effort. Unfortunately, despite the trending Arap Singh hash tags on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere on social media it appears there are many more powerful politicians, big moneyed real estate developers and other pin striped white collar criminals determinate to loot and pillage Kenyan land and natural resources. The April 1, 2016 edition of the Star newspaper reports on page 16 that the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority wants the National Land Commission to review the land on which Demolition of mansions by Ministry of Roads, Public Works and Housing. The government action to restore grabbed public land recieved overwhelming Weston Hotel (owned by Deputy President Ruto) sits. In support from the people. their February 19, 2015 letter to the NLC, KCAA wants the commission to facilitate issue of title deeds for Kenya land grab, according to some keen Nairobi observers was down two rooms-10 and 500-at City Hall that were alleg- Civil Aviation Authority properties. “We lodged a formal for the school ground to be used as a parking lot for the edly being used by cartels to carry out their operations. He complaint requesting your commission’s intervention to Weston Hotel. said that “there are people at the city hall who are collecting facilitate issuance of title documents for KCAA proper- Ksh 50 million every month for garbage collection yet they ties by commencing investigations to establish legality of For example, recently residents of Pumwani and Eastleigh are not seeing the job through. Cartels have also invaded all grants in respect of land, with a view to revoking any estates protested against grabbing of Pumwani Maternity the lands docket and are being involved in land grabbing illegal allocations.” Hospital and Eastleigh open-air market land. Fifteen acres and fraudulent transactions.” meant for the expansion of the hospital were allegedly In a revealing story, Citizen TV did an interview with grabbed, resulting in stalling of the expansion plans. The In February 2016, Nairobi County National Assembly William Ruto who proudly claimed ownership of Weston land was supposed to house an administration block, in- Majority Leader Elias Otieno was accused of illegally evict- Hotel. The property later achieved national notoriety fol- tensive care unit, operating theatre, mortuary, staff houses ing small scale traders in Dagoretti from their premises in lowing a highly publiclized student led protest who were and playground. Only 5 acres are available now. his apparent move to grab land. Josephat Omondi one of against the grabbing of the playing grounds of the adjacent the affected traders in the area said the MCA was using Langata Primary School. Part of the motivation for the In January 2016, the Nairobi County Governor, Dr. Evans hired goons to storm into business premises and destroy- Kidero announced that Nairobi Governor he had closed ing property. OPERATION FIRIMBI Bulletin March 2016 1 In a separate development, Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko was reported in the media as leading a demonstration against the grabbing of a portion of land set aside for a water reservoir in Nairobi’s Loresho area. Bulldozers and trucks were on the land on which construction had been halted after residents complained. At least one acre has been hived off the reservoir that serves Loresho and Spring Valley estates. Senator Sonko, MCA Alvin Palapala and residents stormed the site and ejected workers of Shital Bhandari who has claimed ownership of the land. The senator was quoted as saying: “Who is Bhandari that he can disrespect the EACC, the Senate, the NLC and the court which is- sued an injunction to stop any construction on the land?” Loresho Residents Association chairman Richard Njoba said the High Court, EACC, NEMA and the National Land Commission moved to stop construction on the one-acre portion. It is against the above ongoing backdrop that we should see the Nairobi Declaration on Land Grabbing and Just Governance in Africa which took place in Limuru from the 22nd to 26th of November 2015 bringing together over 100 organizations from various civil society organiza- tions and different faith traditions from Africa, Asia, the America and Europe. Among the declarations, the participants opposed land grabbing by investors, traditional leaders and govern- ments talking on behalf of the people and assuming that everybody has something to gain from land grabbing and its subsequent investments. They stated that Africa was the main target of land grab- bing worldwide, with foreign multinationals as the major catalysts of this “shameful mass acquisition of prime farmlands that is on course of ripping Africa and its future generations of its livelihoods and identity. Most of the land handed out to them is being used to produce goods for export, mainly non-food goods such as minerals and raw (agricultural) materials for foreign industries as well as to develop infrastructure. We are also aware that locals, governments and fi nancial institutions play an important role in this phenomenon.” They said that many public policies and frameworks de- veloped by African governments and major powers – such as the G8 and international institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the World Economic Forum – facilitate directly or indirectly massive land acquisitions which are exploiting earth resources and land in an unsustainable way. They declared that they were seeking for frameworks that allow communities to keep or regain access, control and ownership over their land and other natural resources in order to feed their families, their communities and eventu- ally, to feed the world; the right to food and to water to be fully realized as an indivisible part of human rights; local community-owned and driven investments to fl ourish; communities to invest in other levels of the food chain in their own countries; an increase in resilience of rural com- munities avoiding rural exodus and forceful and inhumane evictions; gender equality and provides opportunities to youth and communities’ right to protect their identity and cultural heritage. S T G O N P I B L B A N R A D G Scenes from the protest at attempted grabbing of Langata Primary School playground. 2 OPERATION FIRIMBI Bulletin March 2016 A shocked stall owner Jean Wanjiru, cries when she Þ nds her stall ß attened. Whistle blowers: Members and residents of Gigiri Village Association and Operation Firimbi activists in a protest march on UN Avenue to Karura River. Prof. Wangari Mathai and Davinder Lamba confer with the lead lawyer Pheroze Nowrojee over a case seeking to stop the proposed exci- sions of gazetted forests. Construction of boundary walls and grading of road by a developer claiming the Karura River riparian reserve, dispite a directive by the Nairobi City Council, not to do so. OPERATION FIRIMBI Bulletin March 2016 3 No action on grabbed Peponi land In Kenya impunity by powerful well connected grabbed piece of public land and ordered the de- Earlier, Karanja Njoroge, the Executive Director of forces is cynically present. molition of the perimeter wall. the Centre for Environmental Action had Þ red off the following letter to the PCEA on the 4 th of July On January 21 2015, the long struggle to save Nothing much has been heard since. The founda- 2014: Kibarage wetland took a dramatic turn when for- tion arm of the PCEA which is behind the contro- mer Cabinet Secretary for Lands led a team of versial property is still defending its ownership in National Youth Service of Þ cers and a bulldozer to our courts. Dear Sir/Madam RE: STOP DESTRUCTION OF THE KIBAGARE WETLAND For years, renowned Kenyan environmental activist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, the late Professor Wangari Maathai, fought to protect over 10 acres of wetland on Lower Kabete Road/Peponi Road in Nairobi] Kibagare wetland is an ecological haven for numerous tree, plant and bird species, as well as a source of income for an estimated 300 plant and pot sellers and other people who have been working in the area for over 15 years.