Park Land Dispute
Ex-Chief Justice Maraga arrested protesting Nairobi National Park land excision for development
Environmental activists in Kenya protested the proposed excision of about 75 to 76 acres of Nairobi National Park for infrastructure plans tied to the Bomas of Kenya expansion, including a parking facility, with David Maraga among those detained. Protesters and conservation groups said the move would undermine wildlife conservation, fragment habitats, and set a precedent for further encroachment, arguing the decisions were pushed through without meaningful public participation. Police dispersed demonstrators and arrested multiple people during the protest, after which Maraga was released but said he was held while trying to deliver a petition to the Kenya Wildlife Service and refused to leave until others were freed. The Law Society of Kenya and Amnesty International condemned the arrests and detention as attacks on constitutional civic rights, with the LSK citing Article 37 and calling out police “weaponization” against peaceful demonstrators. Police and authorities disputed the narrative, saying Maraga and others were only facilitated to Lang’ata Police Station to present a petition, while the Kenya Wildlife Service defended the construction as part of an orphanage expansion and said the public was consulted. Overall, the dispute highlights a widening clash in Kenya over land-use decisions in protected areas, balancing development and visitor-management claims against conservation and public-participation concerns.
Key Points
A Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) official, quoted by the Star newspaper, said the relocated and expanded orphanage would occupy an 89-acre site within Nairobi National Park—about 0.31% of the park’s total area—along with claims it would improve animal welfare, veterinary training, and visitor experience.
David Maraga said the petition he was trying to deliver to KWS was aimed at the construction of a car park for 1,300 vehicles, writing on X that the effort would be done “without public participation,” adding that “Our national heritage and environment must be safeguarded from greed and unnecessary destruction without public participation.”
Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Charles Kanjama anchored his condemnation to the scale and process of the deal, saying police were “Bundling a retired head of our Judiciary into a police vehicle for peacefully opposing a Sh42 billion project, reportedly pushed through without public participation,” and demanded “a transparent public audit of the Bomas expansion plan.”
Footage described in reporting shows the protest being broken up on a two-lane highway, with Maraga (dressed in green associated with his United Green Movement party) being helped into a lorry while demonstrators shouted “Long live the park.”
Amnesty International’s Kenya office urged the public to protect the park, saying: “We want to categorically state that Nairobi National Park is not for sale; our public spaces, our environment, and our rights cannot be traded away behind closed doors.”
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