Ivanishvili-linked dendrological park blasts opposition over death of Kenyan baobab trees

All eight baobab trees imported from Kenya to the Ivanishvili-founded Shekvetili Dendrological Park have died, with the park blaming the opposition United National Movement (UNM).

In a sharply-worded statement on Friday, the park rebuked what it called ‘ambushing politicos’ and ‘so-called non-governmental organisations’ for raising the alarm over Ivanishvili’s apparent quest to acquire baobab trees from Kenya’s Kilifi region. This turned the issue into an ‘ideological battleground on African continent’, they wrote. 

In November 2022, the Kenyan Government suspended the export of eight baobab trees, stating that their uprooting and export was being carried out under ‘irregular’ licenses — dubbed by environmental critics as biopiracy. In March the following year, the export was given the greenlight by Kenyan authorities. 

The episode caused controversy in Kenya. At the time the export license was suspended, Kenyan horticulturist and activist Wambui Ippolito told OC Media the trees were ‘highly revered’.

She compared their export to if a Kenyan investor ‘arrived in [Georgia] and decided to collect mountains’, adding that Ivanishvili ‘sounds like a real piece of work’.

‘His behaviour is what happens when a human being is so divorced from a nature consciousness, he begins to believe he has dominion over it’, she said.

However, the statement published by the Dendrological Park on Friday placed the blame for the controversy on the opposition UNM.

‘The machinery of falsities of the [United] National Movement has not changed’, the park wrote. ‘Fake news, appeals based on false accusations, and, what’s more important, ceaseless phone calls to various high officials in Kenya (including the country’s president) aimed to thwart this unique project.’

The Shekvetili Dendrological Park was established in 2020 to house a number of rare trees obtained by Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. In addition to the Kenyan baobabs, Ivanishvili has been documented to have paid numerous individuals in Georgia to relinquish rare plants from privately owned lands — a phenomena documented in the 2021 documentary Taming the Garden. 

Ivanishvili reportedly offered residents of Kenya’s Kilifi County 100,000–300,000 Kenyan shillings ($720–$2,200) for each baobab tree. 

Friday’s statement by the Dendrological Park went on to say that ‘justice ultimately prevailed in Africa as well’, allowing Ivanishvili to eventually transport the trees. However, they noted that the artificially imposed bureaucratic obstacles, which persisted for two years, resulted in a regrettable outcome. 

‘Unfortunately, the stress endured by these unique plants had consequences, and 6–7 months after being planted in Georgia’s soil, all eight baobabs withered’, they wrote.

The statement concluded by warning of the ‘unhealthy and vicious campaign the so-called “opposition forces” nestling in Georgia wage’. 

‘Their tactics and approach strongly resemble the style of the previous government’, they wrote.