Sports PS denies grabbing 100 acres of forest land

Sports Principal Secretary Kirimi Kaberia has denied owning 100 acres of Karuri Forest land in Timau, Meru County.

The PS claims that the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) in 2014 gave him authority to rehabilitate the forest.

The PS wondered how his efforts to rehabilitate the forest had been misconstrued as intention to grab the land.

“For the record, this land is not mine. I don’t have a title deed for it and the only document I have is a letter of authority from KFS to restore it into a forest,” he said.

He said so far, he had planted 500,000 trees with a target of planting 300,000 more this season in collaboration with the Community Forest Association (CFA).

A task force established to look into the management of Kenya’s water towers had received reports that the PS was not using the land for the purpose of forest rehabilitation.

“This land, contrary to reports, is being used for the purpose it was meant for. There were allegations that I have not planted trees but that is not true since it is evident. Conservation is my passion and after this land is covered with forest, I will take 100 more acres because my target at the moment it to rehabilitate 500 acres,” he said, adding that he has established a nursery and supplied water to the land.

“When this matter came up, I was out of the country on official duties and nobody came to me with the aim of establishing the grounds on which I am here,” Kaberia said.

Karuri CFA chairman Wilson Muga said they have worked in collaboration with the PS in tree planting since he was an ambassador in Brazil, adding that he was the one who supplied them with seedlings.

“In the late 1980s, this land was allocated to a wheat farmer who after leaving, left it bare. We came in later after the government introduced the project in which we do farming as we plant trees,” said Muga.