Logging-spree leaves Ngong Forest bare

A shocking orgy of destruction is taking place inside the iconic Ngong Forest as gangs of loggers cut down trees on a massive scale under the protection of security agencies, the Sunday Nation reveals.

In what could be the biggest logging exercise on gazetted land in recent years, hundreds of acres of indigenous trees located within the capital have been harvested and are still being felled at a fast rate under the watch of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).

It is unclear who is behind the logging but the presence of officers who are supposed to protect the forest but are instead guarding the loggers raises questions and points to the involvement of influential individuals.

In a sign of the level of destruction taking place, what was a small patch of bare land the size of a football pitch when the Sunday Nation first ventured into the Karen-Dagoretti Section of the forest six months ago, has now grown into hundreds of acres of empty space when our team visited last Wednesday.

And in some sections where trees have already been felled, large-scale maize plantations with faceless owners now cover the area putting KFS, which has a huge station in the forest, on the spot.

The felled trees include both indigenous and exotic ones that were planted in the 1990s as part of reforestation efforts by lobby groups.

This has left the edges of the large forest between Dagoretti and Karen as the only areas with tree cover but from about 100 metres inside exists a thriving underground mini-economy providing employment to hundreds of lumberjacks, loaders, drivers, farmhands, contractors, firewood brokers and even women who sell food to the workers.

Multiple sources claim that the maize plantations are being used as holding markers for influential grabbers who have already allocated themselves land in the forest.

Worse, some sections where trees have already been cut have been fenced off raising questions on how public land under the watch of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has managed to change hands.

The particular section in question lies on prime land between the Southern bypass and the affluent Karen neighbourhood where the cost of acquiring land is the second highest in the country, with an acre going for Sh50 million in some places.

NO SUCH THING

Shockingly, despite the visit by our team and photographic evidence, on Friday the authorities insisted that no trees have been cut.

KFS Commandant Alex Lemarkoko, who had been referred to the Sunday Nation by Environment Cabinet Secretary Judi Wakhungu following our enquiries, said that truckloads of poles leaving the area are from a wood treatment plant run by KFS.

“Those are treated poles that are originating from our treatment plant which is next to our office along Ngong Road at Lenana. There is a contractor that has been licensed to treat electricity power transmission poles for Kenya Power, who asked us to allow him to use our plant, which is normal,” Mr Lemarkoko said.

“People bring raw poles to be treated. What you are likely to have seen are poles with a flat metallic tag which is likely from the contractor for identification. They are not from the forest,” he said.

We saw such poles with the metallic tags he was referring to being loaded into waiting trucks while others were on the ground.

However, the Kenya Power has denied the claims by KFS, saying it has never and does not allow its contractors to source trees from forests.  

“First of all, no one is allowed to harvest trees from Ngong Forest. We only use trees from commercial suppliers and most of them come from the North Rift,” Johnstone Turana, the electricity distribution company’s spokesman, said.

“KFS guys are just being lazy blaming us for trees that have been cut. They are supposed to arrest those guys. How can they claim that we are accepting trees cut from indigenous forests?” he asked.

Sources aware of the goings-on in the forest say it has been like this for the last eight months, where logging is done during the day but the cut trees are transported at night.

Further, we have established that premises belonging to a Governor who lives nearby are being used as a nerve centre for the operation and the trucks being used are parked there when not at work.

Additionally, a second set of merchants consisting of small-scale wood retailers is on standby to evacuate branches and the roots of cut trees.

And at the tail-end of the chain are traders from the nearby communities in Ngong and Karinde who scavenge for firewood to sell in the surrounding villages.

All this is under the watch of KFS guards who, after noticing the presence of our team, disappeared.

But a second set of six officers armed with AK-47 assault rifles confronted us demanding to know what our mission was, claiming that that particular section of the forest was out of bounds.

“I have just been informed that there are strangers moving around taking pictures and we have instructions that the photos should not reach the media, so delete them,” their leader, who identified himself as Corporal Jeremiah Egesa, said demanding our camera.

“No one is even allowed here unless they notify us of their intentions,” he told us.

This is despite Ngong Forest being a public utility open to nature lovers and athletes all year round.

FOREST'S IMPORTANCE
With Kenya Power absolving itself from blame and KFS denying the cutting of trees in the forest even after being confronted with evidence, the faces of exactly who are behind the logging remain unknown.

The National Land Commission denies any part of the forest has changed hands.

“Forest land is not allocable to anybody unless it is degazetted and, although the forest is still under KFS, anybody who thinks they will use their influence to get a title for it, let them know we will revoke it,” the commission’s deputy chair Abbigail Mbugua told the Sunday Nation.

Ngong Forest, which was gazetted in 1932, is recognised by the government as a sanctuary and is under the watch of armed guards round the clock.

The forest’s flora and fauna, according to data from KFS, include more than 120 bird species, 35 mammals and numerous insects, reptiles, and fish.

Like Karura Forest (the other only indigenous forest in Nairobi), it serves as a vital water catchment as well as environmental and recreational purposes.

It provides oxygenation which helps ease the high levels of pollution in Nairobi and stabilises the water table.

Ironically, just last week, the government announced a plan to restore 5.1 million hectares of deforested land (roughly the 9 per cent of Kenya’s total land mass) as part of a global campaign called the Bonn Challenge, which aims to have 350 million hectares under forest cover worldwide by 2030.

But according to our spot-check, it would take decades to recover the destroyed sections of Ngong Forest — that is, if it ever happens, as previous land grabbing escapades have left it with about a half of its original acreage.

When it was gazetted in 1932, it covered nearly 3,000 hectares.

The last time deforestation was carried out on a similar scale was in the 1990s where large tracts of land were hived off from the forest, trees cut and the parcels allocated to private individuals who either sold them to third parties or back to the government at exorbitant prices.

ODM leader Raila Odinga has condemned the alarming destruction of the forest.

“We have maintained that Jubilee is part of the problem because they must be aware of the problem and, if not, then they should tell us who is destroying such an important resource,” he told the Sunday Nation.

According to the Ndung’u Report on land reforms released in 2004, some 10 companies including some whose directors are officials in the current government, hived off some 789 acres of the forest in a 10-year period from 1990 worth Sh920 million according to the market rates at that time.

The remaining 1,224 hectares of the forest, which runs along the affluent Karen neighbourhood from Bomas of Kenya to Dagoretti, could be worth Sh150 billion according to current market rates, making it appetising to land grabbers.