Let’s be humane and improve our criminal justice system

Exactly twenty years ago, five black teenagers were falsely accused, framed and jailed for the savage rape of a white woman in New York’s Central Park. The story has huge implications for Kenya and our criminal justice system. Walking in Karura forest last Sunday, I was reminded how we see each other or not is often the difference between life, fear or death for other human beings.

With 1,000 hectares and 600 wildlife species, Nairobi’s Karura forest is one of the largest and most remarkable urban gazetted forests in the world. Wangari Maathai’s vision of Karura as the green lungs and water catchment of Nairobi is now proudly guarded by the Kenya Forest Service. All who walk there today comply with her rule “Leave nothing behind but footprints, take nothing away but memories.”