‘Arica Centre for Open Governance Kabarsiran Avenue, off lames Gichuru Road, Lavington .O, Box 18157 -00100 Nairobi Kenya Tel: #254737 463166 /0728 787929 admin@afrcog.org | wwwalrcog.org Jimmy Smith, Director General International Livestock Research Institute 26 March 2018 Dear Sir/Madame RE: Terminate Partnership with Kenya Wildlife Services Greetings from the Africa Centre for Open Governance. Kenya Wildlife Service, which is mandated to conserve and manage wildlife, signed an agreement in 2016 permitting the construction of a railway line through the Nairobi National Park in return for monetary compensation. The railway will disturb the natural home of over 100 species of wildlife -- including the endangered black rhino, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes and diverse birdlife with over 400 species recorded. The 70-year-old Nairobi National Park is one of Kenya’s most iconic and visited parks. Although the park is a short drive from the central business district, it serves as a respite from the increasingly concrete jungle that is Nairobi; a picnic site; a place to take walks; and a venue for hikes on trails amidst a wide-range of wildlife. The National Environmental Management Authority licensed the Kenya Railways Corporation to build the railway through the Park on the strength of a hastily conducted Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - performed three months after works had already begun. For over two years, a series of court actions, peaceful demonstrations, lobbying, sit-ins and written petitions to the Government of Kenya to stop the second phase of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from going through Nairobi National Park have been circumvented. Following an appeal against the construction of the railway in September 2016, the National Environment Tribunal issued stop orders but public works continued on both sides of the Park. In early March this year, Kenya Railways Corporation and the China Road and Bridge Corporation cordoned off a construction site within Nairobi National Park, guarded by heavily armed police, and have been working round the clock.Rather than take action to stop the subversion and derogation of the laws of Kenya, the Kenya Wildlife Service has provided access to Nairobi National Park and colluded in the destruction of the park. It is highly likely that Kenyans will now be faced with the fait accompli of a railway line through the park, which will be the beginning of the end of this unique park in a city. The Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG), an independent non-profit organization that monitors governance and corruption in Kenya and beyond, has been working on issues to increase public ethics and accountability around the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) since 2014. We are concerned about the construction of railway through the 117 square-kilometre Nairobi National Park, will have a destructive and irreversible effect on it, Already, the park has suffered from the hiving off of 58 acres of land for the construction of Southern Bypass in 2014; and 216 acres for the first phase of the Standard Gauge Railway. This letter is an appeal to friends of Kenya, friends of Nairobi National Park and to anyone who supports the rule of law, environmental protection and wildlife conservation to help us to save Nairobi National Park. We request that you: 1. Suspend partnership, funding and any support that you provide to Kenya Wildlife Services. 2. Join in the campaign to save the Nairobi National Park by demanding transparency and accountability on the railway project. Yours faithfully Gladwell Otieno Executive Director Africa Centre for Open Governance cc Kenya Wildlife Service P.O Box 40241-00100 Nairobi Kenya