Nyandarua governor unveils team to save the only lake in Central Kenya

Nyandarua Governor Moses Kiarie Badilisha and County Commissioner Amos Mariba yesterday unveiled yet another committee to lead efforts to save the only lake in Central Kenya, Lake Ol Bolossat.

The multi-agency technical committee bringing together several state agencies and the county government was unveiled at the governor’s office in Ol Kalou town.

 The team, which joins many similar ones formed in the past, is tasked with working on modalities of urgently saving Lake Olbolossat and protecting its fragile ecosystem.

Protection efforts

Teams forming the multi-agency committee are drawn from the Water Resources Authority, Kenya Wildlife Services, the Kenya Forest Service, National Land Commission, National Government Administration and the county government.

Mariba said the committee is expected to immediately establish a working committee to spearhead conservation and protection efforts in and around the lake.

 A year ago, a similar committee comprising representatives from the National Environmental Management Authority, Nyandarua county government, the Ministry of Lands and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry and Wildlife was formed to chart the way forward and ensure all the stakeholders read from the same script in the effort to save the water mass whose size has reduced from about 10,000ha to 3,000ha in the last decade.

 Lake Ol Bolossat is a water source for thousands of families, a habitat for hippos and home to more than 300 species of birds.

 Speaking in his office, the Governor said that saving the Lake must be treated as a top priority issue of “great national and county importance, and urgency, bearing the devastating consequences extinction of this lake would have on millions depending on it, including in the driest parts of this country.”