It was not too long ago that one of the country's pre-eminent political commentators pointed out that Kenyans are accustomed to considering corruption to be the single greatest evil that threatens our prospects of prosperity in this country. But the same devastating effect can easily be brought about by incompetence.

America right now, for example is in the grip of an economic disaster that is Incomprehensible among Kenyans. In a country where a grant of Sh70.0 million ($1.0 million approximately) from a friendly nation makes it into the news headlines, what can we make of the $85 billion which the US Treasury forked out just a few weeks ago to rescue The American International Group from collapse?

This was not about corruption but it was largely the result of incompetence in government and in the financial sector. So ministerial incompetence is to be feared as much as corruption in the Cabinet. And just as the public depends on the media to expose cases of graft, so too must we constantly be on the lookout for those incompetent Cabinet ministers.

Two ministers, lands minister James Orengo, and his tourism counterpart Najib Balala, seem to have been following short-term populist strategies which could in the end bring us all to grief.

I have little doubt that each of them, in his own way means well and would like to serve the country to the best of his ability. The problem is that when it comes to national policy, what matters is not how well-intentioned you are, but how effective your policies are in securing the public good.

I reserve my views on Orengo for another time, only pointing out that he should be aware that he is being watched closely whenever he is tempted to make populist declaration about land ownership and property rights. Let me for now focus on Balala, and in particular on his intervention in the recent controversy over a proposed new tourist facility in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. Balala knows a good deal about tourism. But he does not know very much about the environment and the ecosystems.

He was quoted as having supported the proposed project, the Olkeju Rongai Lodge, on the grounds that the country needs more tourism revenue. He accused those who were opposing this project -led by his Cabinet colleague William Ole Ntimama - of seeking to protect their own interests. The Maasai Mara National Reserve was never created for tourism. It was created as a conservation area for unique ecosystem that is of worldwide value. Tourism a secondary and complimentary activity to earn revenue, but should never ever be allowed to threaten the protected ecosystem.

At the moment the Mara is under pressure from tourism activities such as roads, density of vehicles, aircraft, among others. As a result, the Mara ecosystem is losing woodlands, wildlife and any last vestige of 'wilderness' that made the Mara a world famous destination in the first place and a "7th wonder of the world".

The matter is so serious that as far back as March 2005, a National Environment Management Authority tribunal stopped a proposed lodge construction in this area. And in the subsequent NEMA report, experts recommended that future lodge developments should be linked to an integrated management and land use plan.

But this doesn't mean we don't have options for growth and new developments especially if you take into account the many square kilometres of land outside the Mara Reserve where the people are destitute and looking at alternative land uses that are anti wildlife such as wheat and maize farms.

Why not recommend that tourist facilities be built outside the reserve on community land where the Maasai landowners can earn the revenue through land leases by tourism partners so the Maasai can get some direct benefit from the tourism industry for a change?

The other major environmental controversy at the moment - the Mau escarpment settlements - arose just out of such short-term populist policies as Balala's. It is possible to resettle elsewhere the people who are in Mau. But if the Mara ecosystem should ever be destroyed by overuse, there would be no way for the country to regain this priceless asset.

Wycliffe Muga comments on topical issues.