EU suspends funding of Sh3.6b water tower over human rights abuses

European Union Ambassador to Kenya Stefano Antonio Dejak during EU day celebration at the ambassador's residence Muthaiga, Nairobi on 09/05/2017 [PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE]

NAIROBI, KENYA: The European Union has cut short funding of a controversial water tower project over human rights abuses.

This follows the killing of a member of the indigenous Sengwer community and shooting of another by Kenyan Forest Guards in Kapkok Glade, Marakwet.

ALSO READ: America Last? EU says Trump is losing on trade

The Sh3.6 billion project, tipped to protect the ground supplies of water in Mount Elgon and  Cherangani Hills that covers 11 counties, is in partnership with the Kenyan government and was planned for the next six years.

EU Ambassador Stefano A. Dejak condemned the killing, saying both indigenous people's rights and Kenya's water towers need protection.

"Yesterday's shooting took place after we had formally alerted Kenya's Government that the use of force by Kenya Forest Service guards in the Embobut Forest or elsewhere against innocent locals would lead the EU to suspend its financial support for conservation work on the country's water towers," said Mr Dejak.

"Accordingly, we are now suspending the support to the water towers programme with the Government of Kenya," he said.

Launched in 2016 it is dubbed the Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Programme.

Members of the Sengwer, Ogiek, Sabaot, Cherangany and Marakwet communities are against the project, saying it will lead to their eviction from their ancestral land.

The EU said its staff had been following up on reports spanning more than a year concerning abuses of indigenous people's rights in the conservation areas with claims that these were linked to the EU's support.

Speaking to Reuters, Judi Wakhungu, the Kenyan minister of environment and natural resources, said she did not have a formal report of the incident the union referred to.

ALSO READ: EU calls for dialogue as it endorses Sh3.6 billion conservation project

There was a security operation led by the ministry of the interior in the area to flush out cattle rustlers, criminal elements and militias who hide in the forest, she said.

“We are going to assess how exactly we can improve the prevailing security situation... Thereafter we will see how we can move the project forward once we are satisfied that normalcy has returned,” she told Reuters, adding the EU would be involved.

Kenya’s economy relies heavily on farming and tourism.

SOURCE