Soipan calls for harmony between KFS, communities

Environment Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya, yesterday cautioned the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) staff against conflicts with neighbouring communities.

She said the government would not tolerate incidents of acrimony between communities and KFS.
She said her ministry had received reports of two incidents where KFS staffs were accused of sexually molesting minors.

“The two matters are now in the hands of law enforcement agents. The suspects have been arrested as investigations go on,” the Minister said.

She said she had also instructed KFS to also carry out investigations and report to her by next week, adding that those who will be found culpable will meet the full force of the law. The CS said the KFS was embracing technology in its onus of protecting the country’s forests.

She said the ministry has recruited and trained 3,000 rangers whose countrywide deployment has greatly reduced destruction and other illegalities in forests in the country.

She also urged people to be focusing more on planting trees they will nurture to maturity rather than large numbers that die as soon as they are planted.

“You better plant two trees that you can see through to nurture. I will not oversee zero-sum game in our tree planting exercises,” the CS said when she presided over marking of International Day of the Forest at Lariak Forest in Laikipia West, Laikipia County.

She said KFS staff will continue watering the planted trees by transporting water using boozers until rains come.

She advised people living around Lariak Forest to change with time, including looking for alternatives to grazing in the forest since it will soon be fenced off.

The CS was accompanied by Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu and area Woman Rep, Jane Kagiri.
Kagiri appealed to the CS to intervene for Kimungu Dam, a source of water for many people can be rehabilitated.
the neighbourhoods as though in competition. The region has borne features of a true gem, perhaps sharing close resemblance with the biblical earthly paradise of the Garden of Eden.

In the early 1990s Non-Governmental organizations including Planning International moved in to fund water projects in the area by installing water pipes and building giant water tanks to supply piped water to local