RAILA FIGHTS ON DESPITE KIBAKI'S PHOBIA

Raila Odinga today allayed fears that the Mau Forest tree planting exercise was in danger saying it will go ahead on schedule.

He also added that he believes President Kibaki will attend the Friday re-afforestation of the country's largest water tower, contrary to reports that he would give the ceremony a miss.

"The government will be there," said the PM during a news conference at his Treasury office in Nairobi.

"Remember that the President announced during his New Year speech that he will lead the exercise of planting trees in the Mau."

The tree planting exercise, which ambassadors, Cabinet ministers, the Kenya Army and friends of Mau are slated to attend, appeared to be in jeopardy Tuesday after officials of the Mau Secretariat were told that two briefing sessions for President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga had been called off.

However, Mr Odinga confirmed that the event will proceed "on Friday, January 15, 2010 as I announced earlier."

He said the country had been "engaged in plenty of talk about the need to conserve the Mau and, indeed, all our water towers," for the last two years adding that the time to act was now.

"We cannot procrastinate any longer.

"I appeal to all Kenyans from all walks of life; the civil society, the religious leaders and all our citizens to show up for this exercise at 10am on Friday," said Mr Odinga.

He said that the Secretariat, charged with coordinating the eviction of settlers and rehabilitation of the forest will "shortly be announcing the programme, including travel arrangements for the tree planting day."

The Prime Minister said the country's economy had suffered as a result of environmental degradation and changing climate patterns and that the Agricultural and Tourism sectors were the hardest hit.

"For much of last year, we were dealing with the devastating effects of drought in which we lost human lives, crops and thousands of livestock.

"The government had to divert billions of shillings from other areas of the economy to finance drought recovery operations," he said.

Mr Odinga told politicians that the conservation of the environment was of too much importance to be politicised. He was referring to leaders drawn largely from the Rift Valley, who have been opposed to his efforts to reclaim the Mau.

The leaders, led by Agriculture minister William Ruto have been on the forefront of opposing the Mau evictions terming the as "inhumane".

A fundraiser organised by the Rift leaders, which was attended by among others, Cabinet ministers Uhuru Kenyatta, Naomi Shaban, Najib Balala and Franklin Bett, yielded Sh5million. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka sent his apologies and personal donation.

"I am still persuaded that as leaders and as a generation, we have a mandate and duty to conserve, preserve, protect and promote the Mau for the future of the country, the region and the world.

"........I am convinced that the more we argue over side issues like who is more generous or more caring than who, the more forests get destroyed and the more we will have no trees, let alone forests to talk about by the time we reach an agreement," said the PM.

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 has 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.