Conservation efforts for the Mau are all welcome

Kenya, and indeed the whole world has experienced drastic climatic changes in the recent past with desetyification taking its toll virtually in every part of the African continent. Droughts and famines have become a daily accustomisation even in places where such disasters have never been heard of before.

If this is not checked, I see a time when two meals a day, let alone three, would be a luxury treat to a majority of Kenyans.

Cost of food would be way beyond the reach of the common mwananchi. (A short while ago, they were made to believe they were wenye nchi). But sadly, how do you even get the courage to call yourself a country owner when you are litrally starving and barely surviving.

All these adverse climatic conditions are due to destruction on our vegetation and especially the forest cover. Individuals have encroached into our forests, settling therein and even engaging in illegal logging with widespread adverse effects.

Sadly, the government has chosen to sit back and watch as forest lands are getting grabbed and destroyed. The government has done very little to intervene on matters of environmental protection and even senior officials have been involved in illegal logging and destruction of forests.

When prosecuted, the punishments provided by judicial institutions are ridiculously incommensurate with the offenses committed by these individuals hence they always will go on with their activities as if nothing ever happened. This has created a wave of impunity among the illegal loggers and others involved in destruction of the forests.

The national government may not be willing to act, perharps, to preserve what has been refered to as tyranny of numbers or something they know more about but conservation efforts in our forests, especially the Mau have nonetheless not been halted thanks to the few who have been making it possible.

KDF’s Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Oluoch recently led a team of soldiers in constructing a fence to protect the Mau. Efforts have also been made by the MPESA foundation that led to construction of a 50 km long electric fence to protect the forest from further destruction.

My prayer is that all Kenyans would join up and be party to the conservation calls for a greener and healthier nation.