Illegal Forest Allottees in Kipiripiri Take Cover
12/28/98
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Title: Illegal Forest Allottees in Kipiripiri Take Cover
Source: The Nation Distributed via Africa News Online
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 12/28/98
Nairobi (The Nation, December 28, 1998) - Activities in illegally-
allocated Kipipiri Forest have ceased following the revelation of the
scandal by the Nation.
When the Nation visited the destroyed forest yesterday in the company of
the Kipipiri MP, Mr. Githiomi Mwangi, it was deserted. The MP said he
would mobilise his constituents to plant trees in the "destroyed area".
He castigated the top administration in Nyandarua for transferring the
forestry officer implicated in the matter instead of taking legal action
against him for his alleged role in the allocation.
Two allottees, Mr. Francis Kariuki Mwangi and Mr. Julius Mungai, displayed
two official receipts from the Geta Forest Department indicating that they
had been leased an acre of land each at a fee of Sh122.40.
However, the two claimed that they had paid Sh4,000 each to the forest
guard in addition to the official fee in "an underhand deal".
The Kipipiri assistant forester, Mr. Andrew Mbuthia Kamiru, and Mr.
Evanson Kirubi Kahiga, a forest guard, were on Thursday arraigned in a
Nyahururu court, on charges of obtaining money from the public by defraud.
They denied the charges and were released on a cash bail of Sh10,000 each
pending the hearing of the case fixed for January 7, 1999, by Senior
Resident Magistrate Walter Nyarima.
The forestry officer, Mr. Josephat Muoria, who had been arrested was later
released by police for what they termed lack of concrete evidence to
prosecute. Kipipiri DO Kimolel Rutto has since banned cultivation or
intrusion into the destroyed forest.
About 4,000 acres of Kiambogo/Kipipiri Forest have been illegally
allocated by the Forest Department to farmers who have cut down indigenous
trees and planted food crops.
Meanwhile, members of the Aithiegeni clan, whose ancestors owned the land
in Nyeri where the town is situated, yesterday reclaimed ownership of the
Ruring'u Stadium. They said they would not allow private developers to own
plots there.
However, they said, they had no objection to the land being used as a
sports facility or if it was turned into public utility such as a hospital
or a school.
The clan chairman, Mr. David Kanjuru Gathungu, urged the President, Nyeri
MPs and all well- wishers to stop the "grabbers".
By Nation Correspondent
Copyright 1998 The Nation. Distributed via Africa News Online.