KFS tells off land commission over order to hive off forest to squatters

Kenya Forest Service (KFS) has said that it is not ready to surrender any piece of forest land to squatters as ordered by National Land Commission in a gazette notice dated March 1.

In a press statement undersigned by the Service Board Chairman, Peter Kinyua, KFS has dismissed NLC as having no constitutional power to order degazettement of a government forest land.

“Degazettement of boundaries of a public forest involves endorsement by the National Assembly or Senate.

"This process has not been done, hence Kamiti Forest and Mt Kenya Forest in Tharaka-Nithi remains public gazetted forests,” read part of the statement.

In the Kenya Gazette notice, NLC ordered that a 419-acre parcel be hived off the Kamiti Forest and be shared among squatters.

KFS wanted the squatters who have been living on the land since it was gazetted as a forest evicted.

Kamiti Anmer Development Association (Kada), Muungano wa Kamiti Society, Kamiti Forest Squatters Association and Kamiti Anmer Squatters Welfare have laid claim to the land.

The groups argue that it was allocated to them by retired President Daniel Arap Moi in 1990s but the forest was neither degazetted or title deeds issued.

The land-known as Kamiti/Anmer-has been the subject of a 23-year row between the KFS and the squatters.

10,000 acres

In Tharaka-Nithi County, NLC directed that 10,000 acres of Mount Kenya Forest land be given to a community to settle historical claims.

The commission also directed KFS to set aside 2000 acres of the forest that will act as a buffer zone between the forest and Atiriri Bururi Ma Chuka group.

The 3500 residents went to court in 2003 to claim 24,000 acres, the section between the first and second baseline of Chuka forest.

The area covers 12 kilometers from the gazette boundary inward. The community refers to the area as “Magundu Ma Chuka”, which means “fallow farmland” in the local dialect.

The board said KFS never presented its statement to NLC and that the only forum where it presented its position is during a hearing by the parliamentary Committee on Lands in Kiambu County on November 16, 2018 and that it has been waiting for summons to Parliament.

It also noted that as KFS records there is no claim proposing alteration of the Mt Kenya Forest boundary to exclude 12,000 acres as indicated by NLC.

Ten percent

The board noted that Kenya is endeavouring to achieve 10 percent tree cover by 2022, up from the current 7.2 percent out of which four percent consists of gazetted forest.

Therefore, it would be ideal to gazette more forests in order to contribute of the internationally set requirement of 10 percent tree cover.

The Atiriri Bururi Ma Chuka elders received the announcement of the NLC with a lot of joy and had already set a date for meeting to discuss on how to share the granted 10,000 acres.

“We have been claiming for 24,000 acres but we appreciate the 10,000 given by NLC and will soon sit down and plan on how to share,” the group Chairman Ngai M’Utuoboro told the Business Daily.