Kenya;the Sondu-Miriu Hydropower Project
“Statement of Protest to Japanese
Government”
by the Sondu-Miriu Community Advocacy Group
(December 17,2000)
Hon. Yohei Kono
Foreign
Minister
1-1,
Kasumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 100-0031
Japan
December, 2000
SONDU-MIRIU COMMUNITY ADVOCACY GROUP
STATEMENT OF PROTEST TO JAPANESE GOVERNMENT
Dear Mr. Kono,
It is with sadness and deepest regret that the people of Nyanza have learnt that the Japanese Government is scheduled to disburse shortly, money for the second phase of the Sondu-Miriu River Hydro-Power Project in Kenya.
The first disbursement from your government caused a lot of grief and loss for members of the community who were affected when the government, through the Kenya Electricity Generating Company started civil works in 1999 in Nyanza.
We are appalled that a second disbursement is being made without consulting members of the affected community about their views of the first funding activities. This project has characteristically proceeded without community consultation.
We have heard that Japanese officials have been at Sondu-Miriu and met with community members. We wonder who these so-called "community members" are yet we members of the community have not been accorded the priviledge of meeting with the Japanese Government and officials.
We only see Japanese people driven in big convoys of cars and given a conducted tour. The so-called community members they speak with are people who have been given procurement contracts for the project implementors and do not come from the affected communities. Their interest is self-evident.
We would like to appeal to the Japanese Government to hold on to their purse until adequate consultations are held with members of the community.
About 200,000 men, women, and children adversely affected by the project have consistently appealed to the Kenya Government and the Japanese Government to meet with them to comprehensively discuss and find solutions to the following issues:
1. Affected community members have been made poorer by the project
2. The project implementors lied to the community about the effects of the project.
3. The project is not sustainable because it does not plan to provide for the affected community electricity it generates from community land.
4. The first phase of the project has already destroyed the environment.
5. Fishermen upstream of the project have lost their sole source of livelihood and income.
6. The river is polluted because of waste water and sewage discharged at the various office and camps sites.
7. Community members have not been compensated for loss of their land and sources of income.
8. No single member of the community was resettled by the project.
9. Consultants and members of the Japanese government visiting the project area have never been allowed to talk with the affected community members.
10. No health centers have been set up to carter for members of the community being afflicted by water-borne and dust-borne diseases as a result of the project.
11. There is no alternative source of drinking water for community members affected by the diversion of the river.
12. The cultural site, Odino Falls, will be destroyed once the river is completely diverted.
13. The community is against the diversion of the river because this will interfere with the eco-system.
14. The habitation of wildlife in the Koguta forest is being disrupted as a result of trees being felled for use in the project.
15. The Lake Victoria basin is being laid barren because the project is encouraging large scale sand harvesting for constructions at the expense of agriculture.
16. Serious erosion will occur downstream at the floodplains of Nyakwere because of the project which has promised not to control the floods.
17. The people dependent on floodplain agriculture are afraid there will be adverse impact on their food supply because of loss of nutrient and soil salination.
18. The threat to the safety of people near the power house, including a secondary school with over 200 children, has not been investigated or explained to the community.
19. The community is totally against rampant corruption by project officers.
The community has been patient despite numerous ignored requests to meet with the project implementors, JBIC officials and Japanese embassy officials here.
We are kindly requesting members of the Japanese Government to come meet with the affected community before disbursing funds for this second phase.
Yours sincerely,
Duncan Odima
Sondu-Miriu Community Advocacy Group
Africa Water Network, Kenya
Argwings Odera
Project Co-ordinator
Africa Water Network , Kenya
Pireh Otieno
Programmes Officer
Africa Water Network , Kenya
Endorsed by:
Lori Pottinger
Director, Southern Africa Program,
International Rivers Network , USA
Satoru Matsumoto
Director,
Mekong Watch, Japan
Ikuko Matsumoto
Director, Development Finance and Environment Program,
Friends of the Earth - Japan, Japan
Cc: Mr. Kiichi Miyazawa, Finance Minister
Mr. Takeo Hiranuma, Minister of International Trade and
Industry
Mr. Fukushiro Nukaga, Minister of Economic Planning Agency