Masinde Muliro Gardens to be rehabilitated

By BRYAN TUMWA

KAKAMEGA; KENYA: After years of neglect, Masinde Muliro Gardens will receive a facelift, which includes erecting a perimeter fence.

This is after The Standard and its sister publication The County Weekly ran separate stories on the state of neglect and misuse that the park was allowed to wallow in for years.

Following the expose, a donor has finally come forward to provide support for conservation.

Kenya Power has reportedly undertaken to fund a facelift of the park that has already began in earnest with construction materials being delivered to the site and dry tree branches being pruned away.

Speaking to the press, Assistant Director of Sights and Monuments at the National Museums of Kenya, Dr Isaiah Onjala said Kenya Power had agreed to partner with them to transform the park.

“We are making it beautiful for the benefit of the members of the public. The grounds will be landscaped for people to enjoy spending time there in a better environment,” said Dr Onjala.

However, bureaucracies might threaten the positive initiatives planned for the park since the matter of who is responsible for the park’s management is still in contention.

The County Commissioner, Albert Kobia said the garden falls under the Trust Lands Act and was supposed to be managed by the local government.

Since county governments replaced the local government, all the property under the former municipal council was transferred to it automatically.

The 2.89 hectors of land covered by Muliro Gardens have raised controversy ever since the garden was declared a National Monument back in March 9, 2001 through a Gazette notice No. 1427.

According to National Museums of Kenya, the gazette notice put the park squarely in their care under the Museums and Heritage Act 2006.