Have the Nile, we’ll keep the trees

The person who publicly fired the first salvo was Martha Karua.

As Water minister, she announced in her no-nonsense manner that there was something terribly twisted about Egypt and the Sudan using up all the Nile water while the countries downstream died of thirst.

Both countries export cotton. Sudan is a major sugarcane producer while most supermarkets in Kenya stock oranges imported from Egypt. Yet Kenya, one of the sources of the Nile, is as dry as an old man’s scalp.

You would expect the Egyptians to understand this simple logic but to them, the Nile waters are a matter of life and death. You can die of thirst, flooding or whatever you wish downstream for all they care. Just don’t interfere with the Nile.

They have golf courses and lawns to manicure and they will be damned if some jokers downstream expect them to sign some treaty about equitable sharing of Nile waters.

Like small children, they have kicked up a tantrum and they will not play ball, even though available research shows that at the rate they are breeding, the Nile waters won’t be sufficient for their needs in a couple of years anyway.

Well, Ethiopia, which contributes the largest volume of water to the Nile and has a mighty army to boot, has called their bluff and is constructing a major dam on River Omo.

I have no idea what Uganda is doing but one thing that is for certain is that Kenya is turning its forests into charcoal.

Cabbage farms

So one day, the Egyptians will wake up and discover that nothing is flowing in their direction because all the water catchments downstream became cabbage farms years ago.

Thus, if they know what’s good for them, they’d better stop yapping about war and get their gumboots and shovels ready. There is a lot of tree planting needed up here.