upepo
Elder Lister
Kenya has once again found itself answering uncomfortable questions after the government allowed the construction of a Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel near one of the most sensitive ecological routes in the world..,the path of the wildebeest migration in the Maasai Mara.
For a country that proudly markets the migration as a national jewel, the quiet approval of a project in such a fragile corridor feels like a betrayal of logic, science and common sense. It invites the same old frustrations Kenyans have voiced for decades on why do we insist on breaking things that work and who signs off on these decisions, and what calculations guide them?
The outrage surrounding the new development is not simply about one hotel. It is about a pattern that stretches across the country, a kind of national self-harm that has become predictable. When you look at Wilson Airport today, surrounded by high-rise apartments that squeeze aircraft into dangerous takeoff angles, it becomes clear how easily rules are bent for developers with the right connections. Moi Air Base in Eastleigh faces the same problem. Military jets now weave through civilian construction because buildings were allowed to climb into airspace that should never have been compromised.
Even the forests that once defined Nairobi’s soul have not been spared. Karura survived only because people fought for it, and parts of Karen’s forested land have been chipped away under the familiar blend of silence and entitlement that accompanies most land deals in this country.
This latest issue in the Mara is simply part of that larger ecosystem of neglect and greed. Officials claim that the build is legal and that the migration will not be affected, but Kenya has watched corridors collapse before. Once you interrupt a migration route, the animals don’t protest; they change their paths, they shrink in number, and eventually they disappear.
I've been to parts of Northern Kenya and I know this story too well. In Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo, Meru and Marsabit, communities have lived under the heavy shadow of what is called conservation but in practice behaves more like extraction. Led by entities like Northern Rangelands Trust and co., rare earth minerals are removed quietly. Billions flow through conservancies managed by foreign hands.
Local people are offered ranger jobs, beadwork markets and weaving workshops but denied ownership and real participation.
They are told this is empowerment, even as their land, identity and future are shaped by outsiders who speak the language of protection while pursuing profit.
Does anyone of you people care to find out the real actual role of BATUK up North???..
Anyway KWS itself has long been accused of being more aligned with Western donors than with Kenyan realities. Policies reflect this imbalance. Decisions often mirror foreign priorities rather than community needs.
And now State House seems eager to insert itself into the conservation economy, likely after discovering how much money circulates within it. Instead of strengthening local structures, the presidency appears willing to bulldoze whatever stands in the way of quick revenue, even if that means placing concrete where wildlife should roam.
The debate around the Mara is not about tourism versus wildlife. It is about leadership versus recklessness and about whether the people in charge understand the value of heritage beyond the price of a land lease. The president’s decisions so far suggest a worrying impatience, a hunger to monetise everything, even sacred spaces, even national wonders. And Kenyans are left asking why a leader would be so determined to tamper with one of the last remaining systems that still function in this country.
The Great Migration is irreplaceable it is the 8th wonder if the world and once disrupted, it does not recover. No amount of investor confidence or glossy press statements can undo ecological damage and no country should gamble with a natural phenomenon that the world recognises as one of its most extraordinary spectacles.
If the government insists on framing this as development, then it owes citizens an honest explanation about who approved the project, who benefits from it, what assessments were done and why our heritage was placed at risk in the first place. The problem is that Kenyans have seen too many of these decisions made behind closed doors, too many forests nibbled away, too many airports squeezed into safety hazards, too many protected areas treated as business opportunities for the powerful.
If the wildebeests eventually reroute or decline, we will not get them back. And when that happens, no hotel, no investor and no political speech will hide the truth that we allowed greed to swallow a wonder of the world, and we did it with our eyes open...
Ngware ici
