• Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jr and the community have been complaining.
• Tobiko says more officers involved in illegal activities will face disciplinary action.
Image: MUTUA KAMETI
Environment CS Keriako Tobiko has said he will seek the assistance of DPP Noordin Haji and DCI George Kinoti to nab government officers and cartels involved in illegal logging in Kivale forest in Mbooni South.
Addressing members of the community neighbouring the forest after a fact-finding tour on Friday, the CS confirmed there were illegal activities going on in the forest and that four senior officers in charge of the forest have been interdicted.
The officers are Makueni county ecosystem conservator Joseph Wakianga, Mbooni forest manager John Ngoyanae, inspector in charge of enforcement in the forest James Yatich and corporal Aron Gashihi.
Their dismissal followed a visit by senior officers from Kenya Forest Service after persistent complaints of illegal activities in the forest by Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jr and the community.
“You have been vindicated. We have been treating the matter as politics but what I have seen, there is nothing to debate. We will do whatever we can to make sure what has been happening here will never happen again,” Tobiko said.
The CS blamed senior government officers in the county and in KFS for failing to give the correct information on illegal activities in the forest.
He said the officers made him understand the complains were politics until Senator Mutula Jr invited him to visit the forest.
Tobiko said more government officers who were involved in the illegal activities or cover-up will face disciplinary action.
“We need to know and understand who are these government officers colluding with cartels to defy orders of the President of the Republic of Kenya. But because we do not want to victimize innocent people, I shall write to the DPP and the DCI to investigate the matter so that those involved are dealt with according to the law,” he said.
The CS maintained that the moratorium placed by the government on logging in government forests stands.
He gave a restoration order in the forest to start within a period of two weeks and establishment of Community Forest Associations by KFS officers to help manage the forest.