Ban has cost us Sh100m, say loggers
What you need to know:
- The millers said they had paid more than Sh100 million in fees to the KFS.
- At least five people, among them officials from the Kimondi Community Forest Association, were injured and taken to Kapsabet County Referral Hospital.
Saw millers in Nandi County have lost over Sh100 million since the government imposed a logging ban in the country’s public forests.
They have subsequently urged the government to lift the ban, arguing that they had invested a lot in tree harvesting through payment of levies to the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).
The millers said they had not been able to pay the loans they took to pay the levies, and fear their property and land could be sold by banks to recover the money.
On Tuesday, five people were injured in clashes between the millers and a team from the Community Forest Association in Nandi Central.
OBTAINED PERMISSION
The association’s officials had attempted to block the millers from harvesting mature trees.
The millers said they had obtained permission to harvest the trees after paying the requisite fees to the KFS.
The fighting started when hundreds of youths emerged from the Chebusui Forest and confronted the association officials, whom they accused of blocking them from harvesting mature trees although they had paid the fees in February last year.
They accused the officials of colluding with a county executive to frustrate them.
The millers said they had paid more than Sh100 million in fees to the KFS.
Police from Nandi were called in to restore order.
At least five people, among them officials from the Kimondi Community Forest Association, were injured and taken to Kapsabet County Referral Hospital.
County executive for Land John Chumo asked the public not to take the law into their own hands, adding that forests must be protected.
At the same time, Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno has assured hundreds of workers at the Raiply Wood Factory in Eldoret that they will not lose their jobs following the logging ban.
Mr Chemno supported the directive, saying it was necessary to come up with “a properly regulated sector that will be of great benefit to the entire country”.
He said Environment CS Judy Wakhungu banned forest harvesting for two months so that the ministry can count trees in public forests.
