KFS fights to recover 500 acres allocated to state agency in Ololua

The Kenya Forest Service is battling to reclaim over 500 acres it says were illegally allocated to a state corporation in Ololua forest in Ngong.

In the first allotment letter seen by the Star, the state corporation was allocated 452 acres in 1998.

"I have the honour to inform you that the government, on behalf of the county council, hereby offers you a grant of the above plot," part of the allotment letter says.

Under the arrangement, the state corporation was to pay Sh72 as rent, conveyancing fees (Sh1,250), registration fee (Sh250), stamp duty (Sh30) and approval fees (Sh 2,000), bringing the total amount to Sh3,602.

In the second allotment letter, the state corporation was also allocated 25 61 acres.

It was to pay Sh72 as rent, conveyancing fees (Sh 1,250), registration fee (Sh250), stamp duty (Sh30) and approval fees (Sh2,000), bringing the total amount to Sh3,602.

The allocation term was 99 years starting from February 1, 1998. The two allotment letters are dated February 11, 1998.

Ololua forest was gazetted through Proclamation No.44 of 1932 and declared central forest through legal notice No. 174 of May 20, 1964.

It measured approximately 1,649 acres.

The documents show that there were illegal transactions on the gazetted forest land where an illegal survey had been done resulting in L.R No. 23268 measuring 452 acres and L.R No. 23269 measuring 61 acres.

The survey resulted in the allocation of the referred L.R No. 23268 and 23269 to the state corporation through allocation letter number 33408/V dated  February 11, 1998.

KFS protects 6.4 million acres of gazetted forests and another 420 million acres under counties.

The service has been fighting to recover the parcels of land.

KFS has through the Environment Ministry requested the National Land Commission to institute the revocation of titles on L.R No. 23268 and L.R No. 23269 by the Land Registrar.

Section 14 (5) of the National Land Commission Act of 2012 empowers the commission to institute the revocation process of illegally acquired titles.

This is when the commission finds that the title was acquired unlawfully.

NLC is mandated under the Act to direct the registrar to revoke the title.

A source within KFS said the service has put in place measures to reclaim the irregularly titled land for forest conservation and management.

Ololua has been at the centre of controversy after private developers attempted to grab 50 acres of the gazetted forest, causing outrage from key players.

The land-grabbing reports prompted the Ololua Community Forest Association, Kajiado county residents and Friends of Ololua Forest to stage a peaceful demonstration, which got the attention of the state.

In April, then Environment CS Soipan Tuya announced that the ministry would revoke all the titles held by individuals and organisations in gazetted forests, including Ololua.

During the tour, the CS with the help of Kajiado residents demolished an illegal stone wall that had been built around part of the forest.

Experts said as an established conservation standard, the ministry and its partners should not build wall fences around forests and other ecosystems because of adverse impacts on biodiversity. The walls prevent the free movement of wildlife.

Tuya said entities carrying out noble initiatives inside protected forests will be given special use licenses by the Kenya Forest Service.

A special user license is issued by KFS after following an elaborate process that starts with the assessment of the proposed site or proposed development.

A site assessment report is presented to CCF before a site assessment summary report and recommendations are presented to the KFS board of directors for decision-making.

The Oloolua is part of the Ngong Hills forest ecosystem composing  Ngong Hills forest with about 7,413 acres and Kibiku, which is 1,235 acres.

The Friends of Ololua Forest say the forest has 375 hectares of endemic forest, degraded (109 hectares), eucalyptus (156 hectares), and 24 hectares excised for SGR, schools, and roads.

On August 2, CS nominee for Environment Aden Duale committed to confronting grabbers of public forest land head-on.

“Mr Speaker, I want to categorically without fear of contradiction say that if this House approves me, in the first 30 days, working with the Minister for Lands and other government agencies, several titles, including those belonging to big people in government, some of them Members of Parliament will be revoked and I am ready to bear the consequences,” Duale said.

The CS nominee made the commitment when he appeared before the Parliament Appointments Committee for vetting.

Friends of Oloolua Forest say several acres of gazetted forest have been subdivided and allocated to 41 individuals and companies.

Duale said he has been briefed about the alleged forest grabbing and has listened to experts.

“There are people who bought illegal title deeds. And I think it will be the first place I will visit and with the Committee on Cnvironment,” he said.

---