Nema alleges abuse of law in tendering process

By Munene Kamau

A Government agency has said local residents were excluded from a consultative process to contract harvesting of 12.1 hectares of Cypress plantation in Njukiini Forest, Kirinyaga County.

The National Environment Authority (Nema) said Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) did not follow the spirit of Environmental Impact Assessment (AIE) when awarding the tender for limited logging to three timber merchants.

According to Nema’s Director of Enforcement and Compliance Benjamin Langweni, the primary purpose of an AIE was to ensure the community surrounding the forest was involved.

Last week, the community in the area surrounding the forest in Kirinyaga East District sounded an alarm after three timber merchants were awarded tenders to harvest trees.

Yesterday, Langweni accused KFS’s Kirinyaga County manager Francis Misonge and director David Mbugua of violating the law.

The official said the residents were justified to express outrage after KFS sidelined them contrary to the requirements provided for in the AIE.

Defending the move, Misonge produced three letters signed by Mbugua personally which were addressed to the three merchants informing them that they had been awarded the tender to carry out the harvesting. The letters are dated November 1, 2012 and individually addressed to the three who were instructed to pay an average of Sh1million each before carrying out the harvesting. The same letters were copied to the Kirinyaga East DC Peter Makori who in turn wrote to the respective chiefs in the area urging them to ensure residents co-operated with merchants.

At the forest, residents expressed anger for what they termed as being ignored in the sharing of the forest resource by KFS. Misonge could not be reached to comment yesterday as his phone did not go through.