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We are staring at auctioneers’ hammer, say sawmillers

timber

A man smoothing timbers at a furniture factory. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Sawmillers in the North Rift are staring at the auctioneers gavel, having used some of their assets to pay royalties to harvest logs in public forests.

Some say they are unable to settle debts and service their loans following a ban on logging.

“Some banks and other financial institutions have threatened to auction our property to recover their money,” Mr Edward Letting, a sawmiller, told the Nation.

Logging aside, much of the country’s forest cover has been lost due to wanton cutting of trees and minimal reafforestation.

Kenya lost five per cent of its forest cover between 1990 and 2005 and by the time Deputy President William Ruto issued the moratorium, the cover was down to 7.2 per cent against the global requirement of 10 per cent.

Many of the forests in the North Rift — from Kaptagat and Embobut in Elgeyo-Marakwet County to parts of Cherangany hills in West Pokot — are under threat due to wanton felling of trees.

The sawmillers now want the government to refund the millions of shillings they paid as royalties or lift the ban on logging.

“We were not given enough time to harvest the logs after paying the royalties,” Mr Wilson Maina, another sawmiller said.

READ: Logging ban hits construction sector hard as costs double

The country collected Sh663 million from the North Rift in royalties from forest products in the last financial year, data shows.

“It is unfortunate that Kenya Forest Service has even denied us licences to harvest logs from commercial farms,” Mr Maina said.

Contacted, secretary of administration in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry William Kiprono ruled out the possibility of the ban being lifted before a task force formed to investigate forest conservation tables its report.

“Sawmillers will have to be patient,” Mr Kiprono said.

KFS has admitted that it faces an acute shortage of rangers to protect the country’s forests.

According to Deputy Chief Conservator of Forests Patrick Kariuki, the agency has 2,500 rangers and 4,800 employees.

“KFS faces a staff shortage and we appeal to all Kenyans to conserve the environment,” Mr Kariuki said.

He added that KFS requires at least 4,500 rangers.

The agency is now reaching out to community forest associations, sawmillers and farmers to invest in commercial farm forestry and increase the country’s forest cover.

“Illegal settlement, encroachment of forests for agriculture and destruction of seedlings are some of the factors contributing to the decline of forest cover,” Mr Kariuki said during a tree planting campaign in Timboroa township of Uasin Gishu County.

A study by KFS indicates that the construction and building industry consumes more than eight million cubic metres of timber every year, which has resulted in proliferation of illegal sawmillers.