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

ON THE XXXXXXXX PROFILE MOVE
Former tough-talking speaker
Kaparo new Nema Chairman
Immediate former National Assemby Speaker
Francis Ole Kaparo has a new job as the
chairman of The National Environment
Management Authority (Nema) board of directors.
He replaces Dr. Dorcas Beryl Otieno whose
contract, set to lapse in November this year,
was prematurely and without any explanation,
terminated by president Kibaki.
Dr Otieno is reported to have chaired her last
board meeting on 1st March 2010.
She has had an uneasy relationship with the
director general Dr. Muusya Mwinzi whom the
recent Effi ciency Monitoring Unit report harshly
indicted in corruption-related allegations.
In a special gazette notice of 5th March,
President Kibaki recalled the tough Kaparo from
virtual retirement to public service and incidentally
saved him from public oblivion back to limelight.
We could not verify if Mr. Kaparo, a lawyer by
profession, has any training in environmental management. This, though, might not be
an issue since Article 10 (1) (a) of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act
((Emca) only says the Nema chairman shall be appointed by the president without giving
qualifi cations for the candidate.
In the same gazette notice, the President appointed Mr. Eliazar Ochieng Ochola as
Kenya Power and Lighting Company chairman for a period of 3 years.
The most signifi cant appointment is
Nema’s considering that public pressure
has been piling on government to
make changes at the taxpayers’ funded
environmental watchdog.
Unconfi rmed reports from multiple
sources indicate that the Kenya Anti-
Corruption Commission could soon charge
Nema director general once the attorney
general gives his prosecutorial consent on
papers said to be at his offi ce.
Though there were reports earlier
that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
could have been called in to probe the
malpractices at Nema, ministry of fi nance
public relations offi cer Mr. Maina Kigaga
told Neighbourhood Kenya that he was
unaware of any such investigations. PwC
country leader Mr. Kuria Muchira could not
be reached for comment.
The public will be keen to see how
Kaparo steers the recently appointed
Nema board which is yet to be formally
inaugurated as the environment minister Mr.
John Michuki is said to be in-and-out of the
country attending to private business.
FEEDBACK
“I read with great interest your article on
“Corruption at Nema”. With regard to issuing
EIA licenses, our experience in Diani also
exposes gross irregularities. For instance,
in 2008 a hotel which boasts eco-credentials
cleared 12 acres of virgin forest without any
permissions. The South Coast Residents
Association and Colobus Trust called in
NEMA and, after a brief meeting on site, We
were all assured that construction would stop
until an EIA was carried out. Construction
resumed the next day and finally, at our
insistence, an EIA was done several
months later in 2009 when the construction
was complete. It is, however, extremely
unlikely that any of the mitigating measures
required by the EIA have been monitored or
carried out”. Ms. Luciana Parazzi Basile,
Chairperson, South Coast Residents’
Association
“Your ninth edition of Neighbourhood
Kenya was highly informative and well laid
out”. Mr. Elias Njeru for PS, Ministry of
Immigration and Registration of Persons.
“Thank you for your informative
Neighbourhood Kenya journal. The truth is
that this country has lost its moral respect
especially when juxtaposed against the kind of
stories going on with regard to corruption. Why
can’t we see any action that results to serious
penalty to those implicated! And who pays such
monies without proper checks and balances
And the stories go on and on while Kenyans are
waiting to see the Government action. There
should be a law that anyone associated with
corruption should resign, like in all other civilized
countries! The citizens are taxed to the limit and
some of the money collected for example by
the City Council is the same money that is now
buying land at prices that no one can believe.
Thank you Kara, you are doing a good job”. Ms.
Martha Mugambi, Resident, Nairobi.
“I acknowledge receipt of a copy of
the 9th edition of Neighbourhood Kenya
journal. The journal is quite informative and
educative. I appreciate the good gesture of
sending me a copy. Thank you”, Lawrence
Lenayapa, Permanent Secretary, Ministry
of Environment and Mineral Resources.
“I note that the political elite have never
been genuine in their clamour for reforms,
but that their selfish view of the constitution
as a tool for acquiring, consolidating and
preserving power has threatened to derail
the process many times. Thanks to the
Committee of Experts and others before them,
we are indeed on the threshold of a new
constitutional dispensation. I urge all Kenyans
of goodwill to turn up in large numbers
and endorse the draft in the forthcoming
plebiscite”, Samora Abisai, a secondary
School teacher based in Muhoroni,
Kisumu
21.