House team wants suspended KFS officials reinstated

A parliamentary committee has recommended the reinstatement of suspended Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) officers, contradicting a taskforce that recommended their dismissal.

While the Environment and Natural Resources Committee wants immediate reinstatement of the senior managers and fresh action be procedurally taken, the government’s taskforce, in its recommendations, wants the officers to leave.

In a report tabled in the National Assembly last week, the committee said KFS board chairman Peter Kinyua, who has since retired, acted in contravention of the law and guiding principles such as the Mwongozo code of governance for State corporations, while suspending the officers.

“The committee finds the suspension of the senior managers to have been done illegally and unprocedurally by the chairman of KFS board. The committee, therefore, recommends that the managers be immediately reinstated and any fresh action be procedurally done,” reads the report.

According to the report, Mr Kinyua, while suspending the officers, was essentially performing the duties of the organisation’s management and KFS board, acting as though he was an executive chairperson, which he was not.

However, the taskforce  chaired by Green Belt Movement Chairperson Marion Kamau said the KFS board has institutionalised corruption, and the system is replete with deep-rooted corrupt practices.

The taskforce, in its recommendations, has also called on Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko to expedite the process of constituting a new KFS board to enable commencement of the administrative investigation process for the suspended officers.