Stakeholders call for plan to save Lake Naivasha

By Antony Gitonga

Stakeholders are calling for formation of Lake Naivasha management plan to save the endangered lake.

They admitted that the future of the lake is uncertain due to pollution and massive water abstraction.

During a meeting at Kenya Wildlife Service Institute in Naivasha, the stakeholders called for urgent creation of the management plan.

The concerns come barely two days after the parliamentary Committee on Health expressed its concern on the lake status.

The committee established that raw sewerage was flowing into the once fresh water lake, which they said had been turned into a pond of chemical.

Mr Kererai ole Patita said there were many seminars on how to save the lake but there was no work on the ground.

"For five years we have been discussing how to save the lake but there is no tangible works on the ground," he said.

Mr Patita accused some NGOs of using the lake to get funding.

He said it was time Government officials were given a chance to save the lake.

Patita, who represents the pastoralists, challenged flower farms that are the major beneficiaries of the lake to give back to the community mainly those in the water towers.

Mr Mbogo Kamau of the Lake Naivasha Riparian Association said pollution was the major challenge facing the lake.

He said mushrooming of unplanned structures due to demand for housing by flower workers also contributed to the pollution of the lake.

"We recently had mass deaths of fish and raw sewage flowing into the lake. This can be addressed through an ecosystem approach of management," he said.

Mr Robert Ndetei of World Wildlife Fund urged all to use water from the lake according the law.

"The previous efforts to produce the management plan faced a lot of opposition. We hope this time we can come up with a document agreeable to all," he said.