The European Union (EU) on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 suspended a multi-million-euro project in the face of mounting evidence that its funds were being used to carry out violent human rights abuses.

The news came less than 24 hours after guards working from the EU-funded Kenya Forestry Service mounted a raid in Embobut Forest, where the Sengwer indigenous people live, shooting and killing 41-year-old Robert Kirotich and wounding another.

The EU Ambassador to Kenya, Stefano A. Dejak, has condemned the news, saying: “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. Accordingly we are now suspending the support to the Water Towers Programme with the Government of Kenya.”

In response to the news, Elias Kimaiyo, of the Sengwer, said: “This is the beginning of a first step in our land rights struggles. If they had listened to us (and we have been crying for a long time), then this would not have happened, and the funds could have been used in a constructive way to help conservation and not used in a violent way for human rights violations. It seems to have taken Robert Kirotich being sacrificed for these people to listen.

“That they suspend this money is good news, but the major thing is they come to the table and listen to us, and work together as we live peacefully on our lands, to make sure our human rights are respected and to let us conserve our lands in the ways we know well, with support from the Government, the Europeans themselves, and any other conservation agencies, provided that our land rights ownership are recognised.”

Earlier this week, three UN Special Rapporteurs wrote to the EU, urging them to suspend funding to the WaTER Project amid concerns about the ongoing human rights atrocities.

Dr Justin Kenrick, a senior policy advisor at Forest Peoples Programme, has been working with the Sengwer on their land rights issues. Speaking from Kenya, he said: “We welcome the fact the the EU has suspended the WaTER Project, but unless they help act swiftly to stop the evictions and violence, and to persuade the Ministry to adopt a rights-based approach then they are simply avoiding, rather than genuinely taking, responsibility for the harm they have been funding.

“The Sengwer are calling for these human rights abuses to stop immediately, and for an expert meeting to be urgently convened in Nairobi to establish a clear road map to change Ministry policy so it abandons this outdated, violent, counter-productive approach and adopts modern conservation methods that recognise Sengwer’s rights.

“A modern rights-based approach would protect communities’ rights, and enable state agencies to support the community in protecting their forests.  It would also enable the Ministry to continue to receive substantial funding rather than scaring development partners away.

“The Sengwer of Embobut only wish to live in peace, and to have the right to practise their way of life, a way of life that strongly protects their forests. We need to urgently change what has been an appalling record of development partners funding for an approach that has been committed to human rights violations. The Africa Court ruling in May 2017 that the Ogiek of Mau were wrongly evicted, and the Special Rapporteurs’ call for an approach that respects human rights, have helped contribute to the tireless work and bravery of the communities as they seek to secure their human rights and protect their forests.”

The 57 Chairmen of Local Government and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State on Tuesday, January 16, 2018 attributed the uncleared waste in some parts of the state to the transition period in relation to the effective implementation of a new waste management policy by the authorities.

In the bid to overhaul the existing solid waste management process, the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration in December 2016 unveiled the “Cleaner Lagos Initiative”, which state officials say was informed by numerous flaws in the structure as well as dynamics of the existing system.

But, over a year on, the dream initiative appears to be tottering, and mountains of refuse now litter the streets of the much-vaunted Centre of Excellence.

Nonetheless, the council chairmen have thrown their weight behind the new waste management policy, which is encapsulated in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative.

Rising from an emergency meeting on Tuesday that focused on the resurgence of refuse on major highways and road medians across the state, the chairmen expressed optimism in the effectiveness of the new policy to birth a comprehensive and world class waste management system, just as they urged residents to cooperate with government during the transition period.

The council chiefs, who met under the auspices of Conference 57, their umbrella body, commended Governor Ambode for his vision to improve the cleanliness of the environment through a total sanitation solution and engagement of an environmental utility group, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions, to implement the new waste policy.

In a communiqué read at the end of the meeting by the group’s chairman, Omolara Essien, the council chiefs attributed the uncleared waste in some parts of the state to the transition period, but said it had become necessary to appeal to residents to exercise patience with government, as all hands were on deck to resolve the situation as quick as possible.

The chairmen said: “We appreciate the enormous difficulties and the challenging logistics which the establishment of a new agency to collect waste for 22 million residents would present to any government in any circumstances. Therefore, the current presence of uncleared waste is a result of the transition from an old system that was considered not efficient enough to a new system which effectiveness has also been recorded in other parts of the world.

“We are aware that Visionscape has successfully set up its system in Lagos State. It has employed personnel to carry out many of these functions. It has also been able to receive some percentage of its equipment which it is deploying gradually to residential areas and also trying to evacuate waste.

“Unfortunately, the bad practice of taking residential waste to medians which was in nefarious activities of those who wanted to avoid paying PSP contractors in the old era has continued and is threatening to sabotage the current efforts of the government to quickly evacuate waste. This has been worsened by the activities of the cart pushers who collect money from innocent citizens but dump their refuse on the medians.”

The chairmen specifically commended the state government for re-asserting the ban on cart pushers, warning that anyone found to be involved in such illegal activities, henceforth, would be made to face the wrath of the law.

In the meantime, the council bosses said the 57 LGAs and LCDAs in the state would deploy security personnel and vigilante to the main streets in their neighborhood to combat the menace, and also deploy more tippers and trucks to complement ongoing efforts to evacuate waste from road medians and in the communities, just as they urged Community Development Associations (CDAs) and the residents in general to team up with government to restore a clean environment across the state.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, on his part, assured residents that government was working round the clock to clear the waste from the streets and road medians, however urging residents to desist from patronising cart pushers.

“What we are witnessing is a phase, but government has mobilised all its machinery and you can see that the local governments and local council development areas are also on board to ensure that we evacuate these waste in the shortest possible time,” Bamigbetan said.

Also Speaking, Special Adviser to the Governor on CLI, Mr. Rasheed Shabi, said the government has carried out an extensive awareness in local governments and is also collaborating with Community Development Associations (CDAs) and Community Development Committees (CDCs) to get Lagosians ready for the new phase of waste management.

Shabi also assured that efforts would be intensified to clear up waste dumped on road medians across the state within the next 72 hours.

Also speaking, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Affairs, Alhaji Tajudeen Quadri, urged residents to embrace the new initiative and resist the temptation to dump refuse on road medians.

“My advice is that people should not be inpatient by taking their refuse to the roads, but they should pack it neatly in front of their houses, Visionscape is up to the task, they have started distributing waste bins and very soon they would get to our houses,” Quadri said.