Environment CS Keriako Tobiko has called on leaders to stop politicizing environmental matters in the country.
The CS has maintained that the government will not allow any person to encroach public land.
His statement comes at a time when the government is evicting people who have been living in the Mau Forest in a move to conserve the country’s water tower.
Speaking during a burial ceremony in Kako, Makueni County on Sunday, Tobiko warned leaders that President Uhuru Kenyatta had earlier banned logging in government forests asking them to halt politicising conservation of the environment.
“How can a county government issue permits to cut down trees when the president himself banned the same?" questioned Tobiko.
The CS was furious after learning that a section of county officials have been issuing permits to tree harvesters to cut trees from public forests managed by the county governments.
His statement comes after a section of Rift Valley leaders led by Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen opposed the Mau evictions accusing Tobiko of pursuing his own agenda.
“If you arrest people destroying a forest leaders cries ‘Our people are being targeted’, we must separate politics from the environment," the CS cautioned.
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