Uhuru Park should be a protected site

Last Thursday we hosted a public forum on the implications of the Nairobi Expressway on Uhuru Park. The debate involved the Kenya National Highways Authority, the agency responsible for the road, the National Environment Management Authority, the private sector, academia and the civil society. The debate was robust and informative.

We explored the levels of public participation so as to assess the extent to which citizens input were sought and incorporated in the decision regarding the project, the design of the road, the process of relevance of environmental impact assessment and the required balance between infrastructure development and environmental conservation.

At the time the debate took place the government had already announced that it would redesign the road so as not to affect Uhuru Park at all. However, the fact that attempts were even made initially to have parts of the road pass through Uhuru Park raises questions about the significance if Uhuru Park to the country.

Uhuru Park is a recreational park in the centre of Nairobi, gazetted as such 50 years ago. Despite this its original size has diminished over the years to other development activities, including construction of a hotel. The most outrageous attempt to interfere with the park however happened in the 1989 when the then government attempted to build a 60-storey Kenya Times Media Complex in the Park.

It took the intervention of the late Nobel laureate Prof Wangari Maathai to save the park. She went to court and although the court dismissed her efforts arguing that she had no special interest in the park, her continued agitation ensured that the construction never took off.

Thirty years later history was about to repeat itself. Again, it took public pressure to have the government change its original plans. We can argue about the importance of the highway and the fact that the size of land that was going to be affected is minimal. However, it shows that Uhuru Park is seen as just a public land which, constitutionally can be converted to other uses when circumstances demand.

In reality though, Uhuru Park is not just land. It means much more. First it is the most important open space in the city. On any day you will find preachers, families relaxing, workers resting during breaks, traders selling their wares and politicians holding rallies. Open spaces serve important functions in any society.

However, they are under threat from development activities. That is why there is international struggle to protect them from encroachment. To lose Uhuru Park would be to lose an important recreational site and even more.

You cannot speak about Kenya’s constitutional, political and environmental history without the park. It is important that this be protected both for current and future generations. Just a few days ago, the Building Bridges Initiative Report was launched. Amongst its concerns was Kenyans disregard of its history. For that reason, the report proposes that a national historian be commissioned to record Kenya’s history for posterity.

The Kenya National Archives records a little bit of that history. However, it requires to be given more prominence, resources and tasks. Uhuru Park forms an important part of the country’s history. To contemplate destroying even part of it is to interfere with or disregard the historical significance. This would ago against the spirit of the Building Bridges Recommendation.

The county government of Nairobi has a role in the protection and conservation of the park. However, except for beautification here and there, the greatest public focus of the county in relation to the park is the economic benefits that the park brings to it. It is time we moved the focus to the historical significance of the park.

The National Museums of Kenya has a responsibility to protect historical monuments. Internationally too under the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, states are obligated to delineate and Protect natural areas of outstanding universal value.

To avoid possibility of another attempt several years from now to convert Uhuru Park into another development, it is necessary that we deploy the Public Trust doctrine to elevate its status as an open green space that must be conserved for public use in perpetuity due to its historical, ecological , recreational significance.