Francis Atwoli calls for Nairobi expansion even into the national park
The Secretary General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU), Francis Atwoli, has called on Kenyans to support the expansion of Nairobi City, even if it means using land in protected areas like the Nairobi National Park.
Speaking on June 22, 2025, after a report aired on local media outlet about the rejection of a proposed railway project by local residents, Atwoli stressed the urgent need to meet the growing demand for housing and infrastructure in Kenya’s capital.
“In any developing world, people construct in the forest, people do whatever they can do,” he said. “You can’t say I’m keeping this tree here when development is taking place. The population of Nairobi is growing.”
He further argued that the population in Nairobi had increased and needed more infrastructure to match the demand.
“When we were young, people in Nairobi were about 200,000 only in the city of Nairobi. Now Nairobi hosts almost 15 million people and it cannot continue to be the same.”
Animals can be relocated
Atwoli said the Nairobi National Park, despite being a home for wildlife, should not stop development.
“Even the national park, the park, the Nairobi park, where we have animals and so on, it must be used to develop Nairobi. We need a new Nairobi with wide roads; we need a new Nairobi with facilities. We need Nairobi with a proper industrial park. We need to have a manufacturing place.”
He added that Nairobi is the only African capital city that has not been decongested.
“It is only Nairobi which has not been decongested in Africa. So we must expand. Nairobi must use that national park around Nairobi. We must take those animals to Masai Mara and make sure that Nairobi reflects an international city like other cities.”
Atwoli dismissed the idea of the park being permanent simply because it is rare.
“You can’t say because we have a national park in Nairobi, it’s the only city that has a park, that that park should remain there for years and years. Look where we have Runda. Runda used to be coffee farms. Do we still have coffee farms in Runda?”
Author
Kenneth Mwenda
Kenneth Mwenda is a digital writer with over five years of experience. He graduated in February 2022 with a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from The Co-operative University of Kenya. He has written news and feature stories for platforms such as Construction Review Online, Sports Brief, Briefly News, and Criptonizando. In 2023, he completed a course in Digital Investigation Techniques with AFP. He joined K24 Digital in May 2025. For inquiries, he can be reached at [email protected].
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