This archive report was first published on 26 October 2019.
Published on October 26, 2019, by Gabriel Oguda.
Uhuru Park is one of Kenya's last remaining symbols of national defiance, a testament to the courage and determination of the women who fought to preserve it.
These women, who looked President Daniel Moi in the eye and warned him against touching the public space, were subjected to derogatory names and physical abuse.
Despite the challenges they faced, they put their lives on the line for a cause that neither conferred individual benefit nor came with commensurate compensation.
Today, as the government considers mutilating the park, it is difficult to get convinced that the fight will be worth it, especially in a country that treats heroes like doormats.
President Uhuru Kenyatta recently celebrated Kenyan heroes, past and present, dead and alive, during Mashujaa Day celebrations in Mombasa, naming Wangari Maathai as one of the Kenyans who left a legacy for us to pick up from.
Wangari Maathai's struggle to sustainable development, through environmental conservation, is what won her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
If the government cannot protect Uhuru Park for the sake of ordinary Kenyans, who have no other place to cool off from this punishing regime, at least they should do it out of respect for, and in honour of, Wangari Maathai.
The government needs to choose whether they truly want to immortalise Wangari Maathai or they are doing it for international clout.
Kenya hosts the only United Nations headquarters office in the developing world, which happens to be the UN Environment Programme (Unep), and the irony is not even lost on our leaders that as the world entrusts us with being the crucible of global environment matters, our leaders are busy proving why we don't take this rare privilege seriously.
