• Swathes of trees ready for harvesting Rift Valley are in Baringo, Marakwet,Keiyo and Kericho Counties
• While extending the ban, Environment CS Keriako Tobiko, said more time is required for the full implementation of new measures to protect the forests.
Image: GEORGE MUGO
The government risks losing over Sh 20 billion following the ban on logging and extraction of timber in all public and community forests, the Star has established.
The amount in the range of between Sh 25 billion and Sh 30 billion is from trees planted by Kenya Forest Service for commercial purposes.
A 90-day ban o was initially imposed on February 24 last year and later extended to November 24.
On November 24, the government extended the ban on logging again for a year to facilitate reforms in forestry.
While extending the ban, Environment CS Keriako Tobiko, said more time is required for the full implementation of new measures to protect the forests.
This means matured trees planted by KFS for sale to saw millers cannot be harvested and is now rotting.
KFS normally plants eucalyptus trees away from water bodies as they consume a lot of water. When the trees mature, KFS audit and plantations team mark them for sale to saw millers.
Registered saw millers — who are about 800 — pay for the trees by depositing money to the National Treasury account and issued with receipts.
With the receipts, saw millers head to the various forest station officers and harvest the matured trees under supervision.
This cannot, however, not happen as there is an active moratorium.
Yesterday, an official from Timber Manufacturers Association said massive swathes of trees ready for harvesting in the Rift Valley are in Baringo, Marakwet,Keiyo and Kericho counties and around Mt Kenya region.
On Friday, KFS chairman Peter Kinyua told the Star that his board and management have been going through the stocks.
"We are doing a comprehensive calculation that is there. The point where we have done everything that needs to be done in terms of finding out what the stocks, age of the trees, we will come back on that," Kinyua said.
"We are moving from a state where there was a lot of leakages. Yes, we have not been doing a lot when it comes to plantation, which had been our core business. I think we are improving in other areas in terms of collections from ecotourism and other areas,"he said.
There has been low staff morale at the institution after March salaries were delayed.
Kinyua admitted that KFS has not been having the revenue it used to have in the past.
In September last year, former acting chief conservator Monica Kalenda admitted the service is “doing badly financially”.
Kalenda said sustaining operations in KFS had become difficult.
She said KFS had collected Sh1.8 billion before the moratorium imposed on February 24, but the situation has worsened.
The service protects 2.59 million hectares of gazetted forests and another 170 million hectares under county governments.
On Friday, Kinyua, however, said KFS is stable.
He said KFS has done a lot in coming up with a new blockchain kind of programme in its bid aimed at linking saw millers to an IT network.
The e-registration process is part of a recommendation recently tabled by the 15-member Forest Resources Management and Logging Activities, a taskforce appointed by CS Tobiko last year.
In September 6 last year, KFS dispatched demand letters, urging saw millers to pay up Sh1.2 billion that saw millers owe after harvesting trees.
Of more than 800 saw millers prequalified by the agency, 600 had not paid.
Kinyua said they have collected quite a bit of money.
"We have not collected all. We still have a lot outstanding but again, it is an ongoing process, with time as a board, and we will come up and tell you what is outstanding," he said.
By October last year, KFS had recovered over Sh50 million.
Forest Plantations and Enterprise acting deputy chief conservator Zipporah Toroitich said they had recovered Sh50.5 million.
The debts, KFS said, have been accruing from the financial year 2012-13 to date.