Raila to push on with Mau drive

A ceremony to plant trees in Mau Forest will go on as planned, despite a tiff between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and State House. But it is an almost foregone conclusion that President Kibaki will skip the occasion, likely to be seen as a blow to the effort to conserve the Mau.

On Wednesday morning, Mr Odinga confirmed that the function would go ahead and that “the government will be there”. He was, however, not categorical whether President Kibaki was expected. Prodded by reporters, Mr Odinga said: “Remember the President announced that he will lead the nation in a tree planting exercise in the Mau.”

Soon afterwards, the Presidential Press Service issued a bulletin on the President’s Friday diary. “President Mwai Kibaki will this Friday 15th January, 2010 witness the swearing in of Judges of the Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court (IICDRC),” it said.

The statement did not state the time of the swearing in, but did create the impression that the President will be engaged in other duties and the tree-planting function was not in his plans. The President’s diary is ordinarily given to the media a day in advance.

During the PM’s press conference at the Treasury Building in Nairobi, it was clear that Mr Odinga believed — even though he did not expressly state it — that the President would lead the exercise, intended to be a show of commitment to recover the forest from illegal settlers.

The announcement he was referring to was the President’s New Year speech. PPS later issued another statement which seemed to contradict the PM. “It is misleading for sections of the media to report that the President gave a date on tree planting in Mau forest,” it said.

Attached to it was the President’s verbatim New Year speech, which read in part: “We will also begin an ambitious plan of planting trees and get our forest cover to ten per cent.” The statements had the effect of suggesting that the President was not attending the function, without directly saying so.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka will not be there, either. He was scheduled to leave the country on Wednesday night for Mozambique where he will be representing President Kibaki at the swearing-in of the country’s newly elected president, Mr Armando Guebuza, on Friday.

And in a paid-up advert appearing elsewhere in this paper, Mr Odinga has invited Kenyans, the diplomatic community and development partners to join the tree-planting exercise. On Tuesday, Mr Odinga had sent out letters to all ministers and assistant ministers inviting them to the function during which the government would launch the “Save the Mau Trust Fund.”

Moved from January 8

“The Government has organised a tree-planting exercise which is scheduled for Friday 15th January, 2010 at Kiptunga, Molo at 11am. His Excellency the President, myself, the entire Cabinet and Members of Parliament will participate in the exercise,” read the letter, a copy of which the Nation has seen.

The letter followed an earlier one by Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura to all Cabinet ministers telling them that the function had been moved from January 8, to Wednesday. Mr Muthaura’s letter dated January 7, said: “You were invited by the Rt Hon Prime Minister to the above tree-planting exercise on 8th January, 2010, at Kiptunga forest station in Molo.

“However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the event has been re-scheduled to Wednesday, 13th January 2010 at the same venue.” Even though inviting the ministers to attend, Mr Muthaura’s letter made no reference to the President’s attendance.

It is likely that a section of Cabinet ministers allied to the PNU coalition may be planning to stay away from the event. Mr Odinga has in the recent past clashed with Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta over compensation for Mau settlers. The PM accused Mr Kenyatta, who denied there were any plans to pay billions to settlers, of “political chicanery”.

On Wednesday, an aide to Mr Kenyatta hinted that the Deputy PM may skip the event because “it has nothing to do with the Treasury”. “This is a function involving the ministries of the Environment, Forestry, Lands, Special Programmes and the PM’s office which has been coordinating Mau issues,” the aide, who said he was not authorised to speak on behalf of Mr Kenyatta, said.

PNU ministers, briefing the media on condition of anonymity, said they had taken issue with the manner in which the function was organised, claiming State House was not involved at any stage. On Wednesday, National Heritage minister William ole Ntimama supported Mr Odinga’s efforts to conserve the Mau. “I will go even if there is no invitation... Those who want to remain can remain, we don’t need them,” he said.

Rift Valley MPs, led by Agriculture minister William Ruto, have opposed evictions from the Mau, demanding compensation for those evicted and describing Mr Odinga as inhumane. On Wednesday, MPs Zakayo Cheruiyot and Joshua Kutuny contradicted Mr Odinga’s assertion that all MPs had been formally invited to the function. “I do not know of any invitation,” said Mr Cheruiyot, whose Kuresoi constituency covers part of the Mau forest.

Water tower

And Mr Kutuny said: “No MP from Rift Valley has been invited... We could have attended if we were sure the President will be present... to tell him our feelings. Mau Forest is the largest indigenous forest in East Africa and the country’s most important water tower, covering 270,000 hectares, a huge chunk of which has been destroyed over the years.

Among the rivers that originate from the forest are Ewaso Ng’iro, Sondu, Mara and Njoro, which feed several lakes in Rift Valley and Western Kenya, among them Lakes Victoria, Nakuru and even Natron in Tanzania.