The lakeside village that petitioned World Bank to deny Kenya funds long before it became a thing. – Kenyan_Report

As angry Kenyans across a myriad of online platforms took to their internet accounts to express their displeasure with their government, and urged the IMF not to loan the Kenya government anything, what they didn’t know is that they weren’t the first ones to do such a thing in the country.

Long before even Kenya had sought for a loan from the IMF, there was already a group of Kenyans who, living far away from the sheltered and pampered easy life of Nairobi, were fed up with the hardships the government wanted to subject them to, and started a petition to the World Bank to deny Kenya funds for a dam construction.

Flower farmers and environmentalists around Lake Naivasha petitioned the World Bank to withdraw its funding for the controversial Malewa Dam in Kinangop, Nyandarua county.

The group argued that the Sh40 billion dam would lead to the death of the lake. Their protest came barely two weeks after senior government officers met some stakeholders who pledged to support the project.

According to Lake Naivasha Water Resource Users Association chairman Enock Kiminta, they had agreed that the project should stop. Addressing the press after a meeting in a Naivasha hotel, he noted that initial reports by scientists indicated that the dam would leave nearby water bodies in ruins.

Kiminta said they were ready to seek legal redress to stop the project, which was meant to supply water to Gilgil, Naivasha and Ol Kalou towns.

“We have petitioned the World Bank to come clean on this dam and, if possible, pull out from funding it as it will have adverse effects on Lake Naivasha,” he said.
Kiminta added that it was going to take more than seven years to fill the 45,000-litre capacity dam with water from rivers, including the Malewa River, that flow into the lake.

“The biggest fear is that diverting water to fill this dam will lead to the death of Lake Naivasha which employs thousands and contributes billions to the exchequer,” he said.

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