Public participation forum on Imenti Forest project was a sham

Proposed projects in Imenti Forest have triggered a legal and environmental dispute. [Courtesy]

The chaotic scene at Meru ASK showground last week summarised everything Kenyans need to know about how the government treats its own people and courts.

The residents had gathered to give their views on the proposed construction of Imenti State Lodge, Airstrip and golf course inside Imenti Forest. A lawyer who tried to serve a valid court order was denied the microphone. Conservationists who dared present a petition signed by more than 7,000 Kenyans were jeered, threatened, and eventually whisked away by security officers. Imenti North MP, Rahim Dawood, who should have been a neutral convener became a gatekeeper, silencing dissent while presiding over a forum a court had already suspended.

What transpired was not public participation, but more of a staged-managed exercise to endorse a decision that had already been made. The Environment and Land Court did not mince words when it suspended the exercise, finding that a change of venue, from Meru National Polytechnic to ASK grounds with less than 24 hours' warning could not meet the constitutional threshold for meaningful engagement.

Despite the court order, the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) proceeded anyway, and stakeholders at that compromised gathering endorsed the Kithoka Airstrip, a State Lodge, and a golf course inside Upper Imenti Forest. This action leaves the public with no doubt about what the government thinks of its voice.

This newspaper has said before that an airstrip inside Imenti Forest is not a priority. Meru already has functional aviation access nearby at Sagana. There is no operational gap that justifies clearing forest land for a second airstrip when an existing one can serve the region's needs. This project does not prioritise emergency response or forest surveillance as KFS claims. Instead, it prioritises a State Lodge and a private golf course that have nothing to do with conservation and everything to do with appetite for luxury development on public land.

Kenya is losing the argument with its own climate challenges. Rivers that depend on Imenti's water towers are already stressed. Elephant migration corridors that conservationists have flagged are going to be disrupted with serious consequences. At a time when every credible voice on climate change is urging our leadership to expand forest cover, not auction it off in hectares, the government's answer has been bulldozers and a rigged forum disguised as consultation.

Public participation exists to test a decision before it is made, not to launder one after the fact. Using an illegal forum to sanitise an illegal excision compounds the offence rather than curing it. NEMA should reject any Environmental and Social Impact Assessment built on that forum's outcome.

The Ministry of Environment, silent through this entire episode, owes Meru residents a public accounting. And the courts, having been defied once in broad daylight, must ensure that contempt carries consequences this time, or every future conservatory order in this country will mean exactly as much as the one KFS ignored at the ASK showground.