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Uhuru Kenyatta (File: AFP)
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a decree to prevent a much-loved century-old fig tree from being cut down to make way for a China-funded highway in the capital Nairobi.
The presidential decree described the tree, the height of a four-story building, as a “beacon of Kenya’s cultural and ecological heritage.”
The fig tree is considered sacred among the most populous ethnic group in Kenya, the Kikuyu.
Environmentalists had been campaigning against the planned destruction of the tree, which is located on Waiyaki Way in the west of the city, where engineers are building the highway on piers over the existing road.
“It is now a presidential declaration that this tree will be preserved,” said Mohammed Badi, director general of Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), at a news conference next to the tree.
The East African nation’s highway agency had said in October that it planned to uproot and transplant it to erect a pillar to support the highway.
The tree will be adopted by the NMS on behalf of the city’s residents and both the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and the Kenya National Highway Authority have agreed to reroute the route.
The tree will now be a sign of the city’s aspirations, said Elizabeth Wathuti, a prominent Kenyan environmental activist.
“This particular fig tree is just a symbol of the bigger picture of what we are calling for. We want a clean green city and a clean Kenya.
