Former Chief Justice David Maraga was arrested on Monday morning after he joined protesters along Lang’ata Road to oppose plans to hive off 76 acres of Nairobi National Park for a parking facility and the relocation of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage — thrusting one of Kenya’s most respected legal figures into the centre of a fierce conservation standoff.
Plain-clothed police officers moved in and bundled Maraga into a vehicle alongside eight other demonstrators. They were taken to Lang’ata Police Station, according to activist Njeri Mwangi, who confirmed the arrests.
“Nine people have been arrested and we do not know their offence,” she said.
In a statement released shortly after, Maraga described the morning’s events in his own words: “I was arrested this morning together with fellow patriotic Kenyans during our procession to present a petition to the Kenya Wildlife Services against the excision of part of the Nairobi National Park to construct a 1,300-car parking lot. Our national heritage and environment must be safeguarded from greed and unnecessary destruction without public participation.”
Maraga was later released but refused to leave the area until the remaining detained activists were freed.
At the heart of the protest is a project tied to the Kenya Kwanza government’s flagship Bomas International Convention Centre (BICC), a KSh41.9 billion development that has drawn scrutiny from Members of Parliament over its cost.
As part of the project, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has been clearing approximately 76 acres of indigenous upland forest inside the park, acting on a NEMA licence that approved conversion of 31 hectares previously designated a protected Low Use Zone. The cleared land is intended to host a relocated Nairobi Animal Orphanage and an 8-acre parking facility, with a pedestrian overpass across Lang’ata Road also planned to link the park to the commercial complex.
Police denied the protesters had been formally arrested, claiming they had merely been escorted to the station to present a petition. But civil society organisations rejected that account. A coalition including Friends of Nairobi National Park, Amnesty International Kenya, the Green Belt Movement, and Greenpeace Africa issued a joint statement condemning what they described as the violent dispersal of a lawful procession.
“The use of force against citizens exercising their constitutional rights to peaceful assembly, expression, and public participation is unacceptable,” the groups said, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained protesters.
Former BBC journalist Ian Wafula, who was at the scene, said police had confiscated a drone belonging to journalists attempting to document construction activity inside the park — raising additional concerns about press freedom and transparency.
“We found evidence of construction going on inside the Nairobi National Park, but KWS just confiscated our drone,” Wafula stated.
Friends of Nairobi National Park has filed petitions before the High Court and the Senate, citing irregular approvals, insufficient public participation, and potential breaches of environmental law. The coalition warned that Nairobi National Park — the only urban national park bordering a capital city anywhere in the world — must not be sacrificed to commercial interests.
“Nairobi National Park is not for sale,” the groups declared. “The future of Nairobi National Park belongs to the people of Kenya.”
