The highly anticipated meeting between Environment CS Keriako Tobiko and MPs over the impending demolition of high-end homes in Ngong Forest has been postponed.
Tobiko had been summoned to appear before the National Assembly's Environment and Natural Resources on Monday to explain the planned destruction of more than 800 homes.
This was after the affected residents, through Langata MP Nixon Korir, petitioned the house to quickly intervene to avert the looming mass demolition of the multi-million property.
Committee chairman Kareke Mbiuki (Maara) told the Star on Sunday that they have pushed the meeting to next Monday after the CS wrote to the panel saying he was bereaved.
“We have concurred with him and pushed forward the meeting because if someone is bereaved, he says he has lost a relative, then there is nothing much we can do. Also, this is a matter he cannot delegate. He must appear in person,” Mbiuki said.
In the letter dated July 2, Tobiko sought the postponement of the meeting by a week to attend to a funeral.
“I wish to bring to the attention of the committee that I am presently bereaved and engaged in participation for a burial scheduled for Wednesday, July 8, 2020,” reads the letter in part.
“I therefore want to request for the meeting to be rescheduled to Monday, July 13, 2020 to enable me prepare the necessary documentation for a detailed response to the committee,” he said.
The meeting, the CS requested, should be held virtually in view of the contagious Covid 19 pandemic.
But Mbiuki rejected this request saying that Parliament shall ensure that all necessary safety protocols are adhered to.
The committee wants the CS to provide legal status of the Ngong Forest and history for its excision or de-gazettement since its proclamation in 1932.
In addition, MPs also want Tobiko to provide a detailed action plan of the government in repossessing all the encroached forest land across the country.
“Provide information on the government policy on innocent Kenyans who may have possessed land in un-degazzeted areas prior to the enactment of the Forest Act Cap 385 and the Forest Conservation and Management Act No.34 of 2016,” reads part of the letter to the CS
The National Assembly has put on hold any demolitions planned in the affected areas until the CS appears before the committee to answer all the questions raised and a report is prepared and adopted by the House.
In the letter summoning the CS, the committee to know the chronology of events of how thousands of acres of Ngong Forest and others across the country were encroached.
The panel also seeks to know the original acreage of the forest, the encroached arrears and the Ministry’s interventions to mitigate grabbing of such forests.
Further, the committee wants Tobiko to provide details of any legal excision of any forest that may have taken place, indicating the law under which such excision may hire expired.
