MAU-KIBAKI DEVELOPS COLD FEET

A high-profile tree planting function in Mau Forest planned for Friday appeared to be in jeopardy on Tuesday after two briefing sessions for President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga were called off at the last minute. It is now not clear whether the President will be at the ceremony, or indeed whether it will take place at all.

The tree planting exercise, to have been attended by ambassadors, Cabinet ministers, the Kenya Army and other dignitaries, was intended as a show of commitment and will, to conserve the Mau, Kenya’s most important water source.

Officials from the task force, which was coordinating the eviction of settlers and rehabilitation of the forest, were twice told that the briefing was off just as they were setting up power point presentations on Monday. Civil Service boss Francis Muthaura first called the PM to reschedule the briefing earlier planned for 11 am.

An official familiar with the PM’s diary but who cannot be identified by name because of the nature of his job, said Mr Muthaura told Mr Odinga that the President’s diary was full and he would not be available for the briefing at the time.

The briefing was then rescheduled for 4pm on Monday, but this was again called off at the last minute. ‘‘After this, we asked when the next briefing will be but we were told there was no likelihood it would happen today (Tuesday) or tomorrow. In fact we were told to go ahead and take the briefing and arrange to travel to Mau on Friday,’’ the source said.

An official in the Office of the President said State House was not involved in planning for the tree planting and no indication was given that President Kibaki would take part. The official said they had only seen letters addressed to Cabinet ministers inviting them to a tree-planting ceremony to be presided over by the PM. ‘‘There was no reference to the President in the letter of invitation,’’ the source said.

The chairman of the secretariat coordinating Mau's reclamation, Mr Noor Hassan Noor, remained non-committal on whether the Friday function would go on. “We are waiting for the day’s programme and then we will be able to brief you accordingly,” Mr Noor said. He confirmed that the two sessions with the President and the Prime Minister on Monday, to brief them on Friday’s function had not taken place. “We did not have any sessions with the two principals yesterday,” he said.

Well-placed sources at the secretariat confirmed that the team had been preparing to brief the two leaders. Prominent personalities have opposed the Mau evictions, ordered by Mr Odinga mid-last year. Among those who have publicly denounced the evictions which started last November include Agriculture minister William Ruto and MPs largely from the Rift Valley.

Retired president Daniel arap Moi, who said he was a shareholder of the the multi-million shilling Kiptagich Tea factory in the forest, has also publicly opposed the evictions and dared the government to carry out its threat and “see how far it will go”.

A harambee (fundraising) organised by Kuresoi MP Zakayo Cheruiyot to support those kicked out of the forest during the first phase of the evictions yielded Sh5 million. Among those who attended the harambee were Cabinet ministers Uhuru Kenyatta, Naomi Shaban, Najib Balala and Franklin Bett.

Mau Forest is the largest indigenous forest in East Africa and Kenya’s most vital water tower, covering about 270,000 hectares. Among the rivers that originate from the forest are Ewaso Ng’iro, Sondu, Mara and Njoro which feed several lakes in the Rift Valley and Western Kenya, among them Lakes Victoria, Nakuru and even Natron in Tanzania.

Mr Odinga had announced that he, together with President Kibaki, would lead a major tree-planting campaign in the Mau on Wednesday. Earlier, Forestry minister Noah Wekesa had also said that the campaign was to start last Friday. Mr Odinga said Cabinet ministers, MPs, envoys, the Kenya Army and all other friends of the Mau would have taken part in the campaign to show the world that they were serious about rehabilitating the forest.

He said more than 7.6 billion trees would be planted countrywide as part of a campaign to conserve forests over the next 10 years and increase Kenya’s forest cover from 1.7 to 10 per cent of the land.