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Proposed projects in Imenti Forest have triggered a legal and environmental dispute. [Courtesy]
The chaotic scene at Meru ASK showground last week summarised everything Kenyans need to know about how the government treats its own people and courts.
The residents had gathered to give their views on the proposed construction of Imenti State Lodge, Airstrip and golf course inside Imenti Forest. A lawyer who tried to serve a valid court order was denied the microphone. Conservationists who dared present a petition signed by more than 7,000 Kenyans were jeered, threatened, and eventually whisked away by security officers. Imenti North MP, Rahim Dawood, who should have been a neutral convener became a gatekeeper, silencing dissent while presiding over a forum a court had already suspended.
What transpired was not public participation, but more of a staged-managed exercise to endorse a decision that had already been made. The Environment and Land Court did not mince words when it suspended the exercise, finding that a change of venue, from Meru National Polytechnic to ASK grounds with less than 24 hours' warning could not meet the constitutional threshold for meaningful engagement.
