• The judge, however, ordered that the 5,000 hectares of mature and over mature forest be harvested.
• The harvesting is to be done under the supervision of the Oversight Team and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).
Image: FILE
The High Court has declared the directive by President William Ruto to lift the ban imposed on logging unconstitutional.
Ruto lifted the six-year ban on July 2, during a visit to Molo, Nakuru County.
On Thursday, however, the Environment and Land Court found that the directive did not follow the required procedure by involving public participation.
It added that the President acted on the premise of court proceedings and revoked the same, noting that there was no evidence of public participation prior to the consent.
"A declaration be and is hereby issued that the lifting of the moratorium on logging activities was not by the President, but by the consent of the parties in Nyeri and Meru High Court , which lacked public participation and therefore, unconstitutional, null and void," Judge Oscar Angote ruled.
The judge, however, ordered that the 5,000 hectares of mature and over mature forest plantation trees that have been identified by the Multi-Agency Oversight Team to be harvested.
The harvesting is to be done under the supervision of the Oversight Team and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).
"The harvesting of the 5,000 Ha of the mature and over mature trees to be done in strict compliance with the provisions of the law, including the Environment and Management Act, the Forest Conservation and Management Act, Forest (Participation in Sustainable Forest Management) Rules, 2009 and Forest (Harvesting) Rules, 2009," the judge ordered.
Save for the 5,000 hectares, the judge issued conservatory orders restraining any exploitation of resources from forest areas until the final judgment.
The court ruling came after the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) challenged Ruto's July directive.
LSK challenged the lifting of the ban saying there was no public participation about such an important issue before the prohibition was removed.
The society listed in its petition four respondents including Attorney General, Forestry CS, KFS and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
Judge Angote directed that LSK and Kenyans are entitled to be involved in the decision making process on laws and guidelines governing logging activities in the country.
The court further ordered that the recommendations made by the Taskforce Report on Forest Resources Management and Logging Activities in Kenya, be upheld and implemented in furtherance of Article 69 of the Constitution.
Article 69 is on the obligations in respect of the protection of environment and natural resources.
Following the implementation of the recommendations, the respondents are required to file a comprehensive implementation matrix of the same in court.
This is to be done not later than three months of the judgment date.
Judge Angote also ordered that the implementation framework is to include a programme for proactive dissemination of information and public participation in the management of forest resources.
This is to include KFS's strategic plan, forest management plan and felling plan.