Minister: Leave Karura forest land alone
What you need to know:
- Over 32 civil society groups plan to rally supporters for protests against the construction of the hotel.
- An outcry has greeted recent media reports that a foreign-based company had acquired three parcels of land illegally allocated to three Kenyan firms during the Kanu era for the project.
No construction will be allowed inside Karura forest, Cabinet Secretary for Environment Judi Wakhungu stated Friday.
Prof Wakhungu sought to allay fears that a private company planned to set up a six star multi-storey hotel in the heart of the forest.
“Our position is that the land has not been degazetted and no construction can take place,” she told the Saturday Nation by telephone.
An outcry has greeted recent media reports that a foreign-based company had acquired three parcels of land illegally allocated to three Kenyan firms during the Kanu era for the project.
The company is said to have already petitioned the High Court to compel the Kenya Forestry Service to remove a fence and give it access to the 18.3 acres illegally excised from the forest to enable it build a hotel.
“I think the whole issue has been taken out of context because no structure can be erected on land gazetted as a forest,” Prof Wakhungu said.
Over 32 civil society groups plan to rally supporters for protests against the construction of the hotel.
Mr Cidi Otieno from the Coalition for Constitution Implementation told the Saturday Nation that civil society groups would meet on Tuesday to set up a strategy to protect the forest.
Greenbelt Movement has said it would join ongoing efforts to stop any attempt by the foreign consortium to put up the hotel.
Greenbelt movement Board Chair Wanjiru Maathai — daughter of the late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai — told the developer through a press release to appreciate public interest and seek alternative land.
Prof Maathai was the founder of the Greenbelt Movement set up to protect forests. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
