AfriCOG says the wildlife agency signed an agreement in 2016 permitting the construction of the railway line through the park in return for monetary compensation instead of protecting wildlife as per their mandate.
A civil society organisation has called for the suspension of funding and partnership for the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for allowing the second phase of standard gauge railway to pass through the Nairobi National Park.
The Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) executive director Gladwell Otieno, in a letter dated March 26, said the wildlife agency signed an agreement in 2016 permitting the construction of the railway line through the park in return for monetary compensation instead of protecting wildlife as per their mandate.
“We request that you suspend partnership, funding and any support that you provide to Kenya Wildlife Services and join in the campaign to save the Nairobi National Park by demanding transparency and accountability on the railway project,” read the letter signed by Ms Otieno and addressed to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) chief executive Mr Mohamed Awer.
Ms Otieno further claims the KWS has failed to stop “the subversion and derogation” of the laws of Kenya by not taking action against the Kenya Railways Corporation and China Road and Bridge Corporation for cordoning off a construction site within the Nairobi National Park in early March this year.
“The Kenya Wildlife Service has provided access to Nairobi National Park and colluded in the destruction of the park. It is highly likely that Kenyans will now be faced with the fait accompli of a railway line through the park, which will be the beginning of the end of this unique park in a city,” she said.
Ms Otieno said a series of court actions, peaceful demonstrations, lobbying, sit-ins and written petitions to the government of Kenya to stop the second phase of the SGR going through the park have been in vain.
The AfriCOG director also accused the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) of quickly licensing the construction of the railway through the park on the strength of a hastily conducted environmental and social impact assessment performed three months after works at the park had already begun.
“Following an appeal against the construction of the railway in September 2016, the National Environment Tribunal issued stop orders but public works continued on both sides of the park,” said Ms Otieno.
She added that the SGR would have a destructive and irreversible effect on the park which has already suffered from the hiving off of 58 acres for building Southern Bypass in 2014, and 216 acres for the first phase of the rail.
“The railway will disturb the natural home of over 100 species of wildlife including the endangered black rhino, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes and diverse birdlife with over 400 species recorded,” she said.
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