The Nakuru County government has opposed the move by the Ministry of Environment to lift the ban on timber harvesting in Kenyan forests.
County Environment Executive Richard Kipsang’ said that the move by Environment Cabinet Secretary Judy Wakhungu is untimely saying that it will kill the gains made in conserving the Mau complex in the past five years.
Addressing the media on Tuesday in his office, Kipsang’ said that Nakuru county has been worst affected by the destruction of the Mau forest saying the Minister ought to have consulted widely before making the decision.
“When Mau was invaded by settlers and timber harvesters, all rivers in Nakuru went dry and even the lakes were almost wiped out because the water sources in the forest were destroyed. The lakes in Nakuru were only saved when people got evicted from Mau and allowing people to get into timber harvesting is uncalled for because with the Kenyan culture if you allow people to harvest timber then you will be inviting disaster,” said Kipsang.
He added, “You cannot allow a few individuals to ruin the livelihoods of millions in the name of timber harvesting. If people want to harvest timber then let them plant their own forest and keep off government forests for the good of the nation.”
On Monday Environment CS Judy Wakhungu announced the lifting of the timber harvesting ban following what she termed as an assessment carried out by forest experts.
The ban had been imposed to save the country’s forest cover form total extinction.
Elsewhere, Njoro Member of Parliament Joseph Kiuna has welcomed the move by the state to lift the ban.
Speaking in Njoro town on Tuesday, Kiuna said that the move will create jobs for young people who had been rendered jobless following the imposing of the ban five years ago.
Kiuna said that many timber processing plants in the area were forced to close down and lay off hundreds of people due to lack of wood.