To R. Valley leaders, Mau is just a shamba

By Ibrahim Ndamwe

With the exception of Agriculture minister William Ruto, no Rift Valley leader has equivocally supported Government initiatives to save the Mau Forest. Still, Ruto has not been as forceful as one would expect. Instead, he blows hot and cold depending on the political wind. On occasion, he even publicly contradicts his Prime Minister, a man whose singular obsession with saving this critical water tower must be applauded.

As for the other leaders from the region, they have been preoccupied with defending what they call "our people". In fact, one suspects that it would suit them if that whole place became a shamba with voters burning charcoal and replacing rain-creating forest with maize and cabbage.

What is mind-boggling about this is that the current crop of leaders from the Rift Valley is composed of extremely well educated people, not the myopic clowns who pinched every inch of soil they could find in the Kanu days. Ruto is himself a trained environmentalist and the minister in charge of our rain-fed agriculture, the main economic activity of his people. By virtue of his professional training, current ministerial portfolio and his clout as the region’s top politician, plans to save the Mau would receive immense impetus if he stood firmly behind the Prime Minister.

Rift Valley leaders may think they are protecting their constituents. Instead, they are germinating infanticide of the worst kind against their own people. If the Mau Forest goes, the people who stand to suffer most are the local residents. Like a suicide bomber is blown to bits by his self-inflicted explosion, the locals will suffer certain environmental death because of their own folly and the political gymnastics of their leaders.

Well, you have blamed Kenya’s post-election violence on a stolen election. But future generations will blame their irreparable thirst on stolen forest land. And they will blame you.