KARA APRIL-MAY ISSUE.indd - The Kenya Alliance of Resident ...

PROFILE WATER
desist from fi re-fi ghting. It must respond to
issues timely and not only when they are
out of hand.
Adequate regulations that govern
protection of our environment and natural
resources exist. The regulatory agencies
charged with the role of protecting the
environment and natural resources must
demonstrate value for their existence and
be seen to be implementing the law without
any discrimination, favour or fear.
The government must now focus on
streamlining the issuance of environmental
impact assessment licenses to ensure
that no license is issued to undeserving
applicants. The corrupt practices
surrounding the issuance of the EIA
licenses has ensured that activities that
have adverse effects on the environment
are allowed to continue with the full
knowledge of the regulatory agency.
Other agencies such as the Water
Resources Management Authority (Warma)
and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) must
also effectively play their roles of protecting
and conserving our water resources. Lake
Naivasha is a Ramsar site and one would
have expected KWS to end its silence on
the matter.
More specifi cally, the ministry of
environment and mineral resources minister
Mr. John Michuki cannot possibly leave
the matter to his colleague Mrs. Mugo.
It is primarily an environmental issue
and a ministry of water issue. It is not an
international NGO’s, fl ower farmers or
political issue.
Measures need to be put in place
to curb collusion between the staff of
regulatory agencies and the perpetrators of
environmental degradation. Until the rule of
law is adhered to, threats to shut down the
farms will only be counterproductive. It will
not address the root cause of the problem.
Kenyans must rise up. They must not let
the precious Lake Naivasha die. The media,
especially NTV, must be commended for
highlighting the lake’s woes.
But someone must now ask – where
are the big seven - Mr. John Michuki, Mrs.
Charity Ngilu, Mr. Lawrence Lenayapa,
Dr. Julius Kipng’etich, Dr. Muusya Mwinzi,
Eng. Philip Olum and Dr Paul Otwoma
of Fisheries as Lake Naivasha fi nally
collapses.
Kenyans will hold these people squarely
responsible should the lake’s water give
way to clouds of dust.
For the better part of the year, Kenya’s
main water towers Mt. Kenya, Aberdares,
Mt Elgon, Mau Complex and Cherang’ani
Hills have been under siege from manmade
and natural drought. Incidentally the
towers are the main water sources for the
country and the region.
There are, 4 water drainage basins
with renewable fresh water endowment
of 19 billion m3 under favourable climatic
conditions include Lake Victoria Basin
which covers Western, Nyanza, North
and South Rift has 12B m3 per year (54%
of the country’s renewable annual water
resources) and meets demand for 16 million
people.
The Tana Basin covers Central Kenya,
Meru, Embu, Mwingi, Kitui, Garissa.
The basin has 3.7B m3 per year (19%
of the country’s renewable annual water
resources). The basin is the main source of
water for the city of Nairobi from Ndakaini
Dam (80%) and Sasumua dam (16%). It
serves 10 million people (including Nairobi)
and is water suffi cient.
Rift Valley Basin covers the greater
Baringo, Nakuru, Keiyo,Turkana,West
Pokot, Narok and Nyandarua has 2.7B m3
per year (14 % of the country’s renewable
annual water resources). It serves 3 million
people. The region is classifi ed as water
defi cit.
On the other hand, Ewaso Ng’iro North
Basin covers Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo,
Moyale, Marsabit and North Eastern has
0.34 B m3 per year (2% of the country’s
renewable annual water resources). It
serves 2.7 million people and is classifi ed
as water defi cient
According to director of water resources
Eng. John Nyaoro, the country’s water
resources have continued to degrade due to
catchments degradation, over-abstraction,
pollution and poor land use practices.
He adds that “the demand for water for
various uses has continued to increase
and in most cases outstrips supply thereby
resulting in confl icts and unreliable
resources availability. There is need for
prudent management of water resources
to ensure fair allocation, conservation and
population control.
OUR PEOPLE
Mr. Alfred Otieno Osur (OGW, DSM, MBS)
Neighborhood Kenya offers you an
opportunity of knowing staff and governing
council members. In this edition, we feature
one of our council members Mr. Alfred
Otieno Osur (pictured).
Alfred is the President of International
Police Association- Kenya section and a
Director /CEO of C & A Security Services.
He is a trained police offi cer and has
undertaken several trainings on policing and
security in Uganda, Canada, South Africa,
Sudan, Egypt, China, Turkey and Russia.
He successfully completed a training in
command and leadership at the Bramshill
Police College in the United Kingdom
Besides the police training, he has
also undertaken trainings in Public
Administration, Information Technology
and Financial Management at Kenya
Institute of Administration (K.I.A). He served
in Kenya’s Police Force for over three
decades rising steadily to the position of
Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of
operations as at the time of his retirement.
He played a crucial role in pioneering
community policing in Nairobi and has been
actively involved in promoting partnership
between various communities and the
police. Due to his vast experience in
security issues, he has served as a member
of Community Policing Advisory Council.
He is currently the chairman of Kara
committee on security safety and disaster
management.
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