KENYA: Greed is Behind Decimation of Forests
Copyright 2001 The Nation (Nairobi)
November 5, 2001
By John Kamau
Does this make sense? On October 24, Dr Mohamed Isahakia, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, told us if he would have his way, he would throw the lot of forest officers responsible for the plunder of forests into Kamiti Maximum Prison.
During the same occasion his minister, Noah Katana Ngala, lamented that Kenya's gazetted forest cover of three per cent was "grossly inadequate" and argued that it was impacting negatively on industrialisation. Ngala not only warned forest officers against failing in their roles but also announced the formation of a task force to enhance tree planting.
But only two days later, it emerged that Minister Ngala - who else? - had actually gazetted the excision of 10 per cent of Kenya's forest cover.
Landlessness will not come to an end
Why are we being lied to like little babies? If a foreign country threatened to clear 10 per cent of our forest cover, would we not go war?
It is not that we cannot do anything about it. We only need remember that the government and its awesome power are, in fact, ours. If our leaders have no integrity, if our politics is full of distortion and destruction, if our representatives serve their interests instead of the public, we are to blame.
And because we let the likes of Ngala get away with such destruction and tolerate all this abuse in silence, we become culpable too.
It won't get much worse than this but unless we restore the environment as a key political issue, chances of getting an environmentally friendly government or Parliament are slim.
The question of land versus trees must not be resolved at the altar of political expediency. It is common knowledge that even if we clear and allocate all forests, landlessness will not come to an end. We must decide now whether we want a green Kenya or a desert country.
We have been watching as big logging companies go into the forests and shave them bald. It is these parts that the minister now wants to allocate.
As we speak today, big timber interests are still cutting down Mau Forest displacing the forest-dwelling Ogiek community who have lived in this forest from time immemorial. It is Dr Mohamed Isahakia who exempted these companies from the ban. On July 3, 2001 he said that Raiply and its sister firm Timsales had been allowed to harvest timber at Bararget, Nesiut and Mauche areas of Mau Forest because "they employ 30,000 Kenyans". As for Pan Paper, he said it was exempted because "the government had shares in it".
Review the state of the forests
These are not the only companies logging today. So, let us not be fooled that the small saw millers are to blame for the destruction or that the intention is to settle the Ogieks. Never.
The time has to review the state of the forests, inform the people, and carry out long-term planning for sustainable logging. We must bear in mind as do this that laws are archaic and do not recognise the likes of the Ogiek as forest communities.
While we take on the government and stop it from destroying the same heritage it ought to protect, we must make tree-planting a social responsibility in this country.
The excuse that squatters need to be resettled should not cloud our vision. A bigger national crisis can be triggered by desertification. One question that this government has not answered is why the squatters have to be settled near or inside the forest.
People must stop empty talk and act
Allocating some 167,000 acres at one go, when only 3 per cent of the country is forested, is a scandal that is so big that no politician should even dare to dream of it.
We are not the only country facing a land crisis. But other governments are not flogging people to go and cut down forests to create space for settlement.
We must go back to the days when tree planting days were national days, and when we were all involved. Also wananchi must stop empty talk and start action oriented campaigns and relentless tree planting at individual, community and district level.
Telling us that this land is already settled with people is an admission that some people illegally allocated themselves forestland, cut down the trees, tampered with water catchment areas and now the government wants to legalise that action.
When people realise that despite the social, economic and ecological problems they have caused they can get title deeds by destroying forestland, what guarantees are there to stop further wanton destruction, like draining a lake?!
Greed is the cause of all these, Mr Minister. It has nothing to do with squatters, it has nothing to do with the Ogieks.
John Kamau is the Editor of Rights Features Service and contributes to the London-based New African newsmagazine.