532 000 000 DONATION

The US will give Kenya Sh532 million to rehabilitate the Mau ecosystem, the country’s largest water tower.

The announcement by US ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger at a tree planting ceremony in Eastern Mau took Prime Minister Raila Odinga by surprise.

“Ranneberger suggested that I come with him to launch this tree planting project but I did not know that I was in for such a big surprise,” Mr Odinga said at Songi-Kaboyet block of Eastern Mau. “This is an act of great generosity,” he said.

Mr Ranneberger said part of the money would be used to reclaim the Upper Mara River catchment area, the source of River Mara, which feeds the Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Owing to massive destruction of the Mau Complex, the Mara River has almost dried up, threatening the existence of game in the Maasai Mara.

The ambassador said part of the money would be used by the Lands ministry to survey and register title deeds for Southwestern Mau and Trans-Mara Forest Reserve.

The ministry is currently marking the water tower’s boundaries to pave the way for the third phase of its reclamation.

The first and the second phase of the restoration took place last year.

Mr Ranneberger said the US wanted to conserve the water tower as its destruction had affected almost the entire continent because the source of the River Nile, which is Lake Victoria, is fed by rivers from the Mau.

The ambassador disclosed that the US planned to help restore the Mau as far back as 2005 but had been waiting for a firm commitment from the Kenyan Government.

Mr Odinga, who embarked on a campaign to restore the water tower last year, yesterday reaffirmed the government’s commitment, saying: “We will march on till we restore all our natural forests, not just the Mau.”