The Kenya Water Towers Agency is making frantic efforts to anchor the crucial institution in law as its existence hangs in the balance.
KWTA is a state corporation under the Ministry of Environment and Forestry established in 2012 through a gazette notice.
Gazette notices expire after 10 years, according to the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013.
This means the gazette notice creating the agency expired early last year.
When the agency realised that their term was coming to an end, they requested state for an extension, which was granted.
On August 30, KWTA top leadership led by its CEO Prof Julius Tanui made a passionate appeal to the National Assembly Committee on Environment to have the agency anchored in law, saying it plays a crucial role in the protection of country’s water towers.
“The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry has offered a new direction that the Kenya Water Towers Agency be transitioned into a forest regulator to fill the gap identified in the national forest policy,” Tanui told the committee.
He said the policy had established that the forest sector has multiple and unregulated players from the national government to county governments.
“Due to the wide range of stakeholders, some of their activities are incompatible and mechanisms detailing clear roles and responsibilities are needed to maximise the potential for conflict and misunderstanding, which necessitate the need to have a regulator,” Tanui said.
In 2013, there were efforts by the new Jubilee administration to merge the agency with Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forestry Research Institute to avoid duplication of roles.
However, this plan was later shelved.
Another state agency that had a clashing mandate with KWTA is the Water Resources Authority, which was moved to the Ministry of Water to tame mandate clashes and frequent scramble for scarce resources.
Currently, the agency is domiciled at the State Department of Environment and Climate Change yet many say it should be in the State Department of Forestry.
CEO Tanui told MPs the regulator will promote the sustainable utilisation of forests which include public, community and private and riparian and water catchment areas through formulation and enforcement of national standards, guidelines, procedures and regulations on their management.
“The standards will be a guide for monitoring forest ecosystem health by various actors to ensure national aspirations are realised as well as inform and report compliance to Multilateral Environment Agreements related to forests by the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry,” Tanui said.
He urged the National Assembly to not only approve the National Forest Policy but also amend the Forest Conservation and Management Act 2016 to provide for a regulator and transition the agency.
KWTA decried that it has not been receiving any allocation from the state even as its existence hangs in balance.
For instance in the printed estimates for the financial year 2022-2023, the agency had requested for Sh70 million for national tree planting campaigns but did not get a single cent.
The agency had also requested for Sh135 million to run its operations in the financial year 2022-2023 but only received Sh 51,250,000.
In 2008, the state recognised the increasing threats facing Mau Forest Complex and formed a task force to conserve the tower.
After the adoption of the task force report by Parliament on September 15, 2009, the state recognised that there were existing gaps in Mau Forest Complex that included lack of coordination and oversight framework on the management of water towers.
There was also recognition that water towers/catchment areas go beyond the protected are such as forests and national parks, compelling the state to form the Kenya Waters Towers Agency through Legal Notice No. 27 of 2012.
Water towers support socio-economic development, generation of electricity, industrial development, irrigation, agriculture, wildlife, tourism and health, as well as the conservation of biodiversity, indigenous knowledge and research.
Tanui said the country's 18 gazetted water towers would have been degraded were it not for the agency.
Out of the 18 gazetted water towers, five are classified as major water towers.
They include the Mau Forest Complex, Cherangani Hills, Mount Elgon, Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya.
Other water towers are Mount Marsabit, Marmanet Forest, Nyambene Hills and Chyulu Hills, Mount Kulal, Huri Hills, Kirisia Hills, Ndotto's Ranges, Shimba Hills, Mathews Range, Mount Kipipiri, Loita Hills and Mount Nyiru.
Some of these water towers have faced challenges such as encroachment for farming and settlement, illegal logging, charcoal production, and overgrazing.
The agency has, however, instituted some measures to protect some of the water towers.
For instance, pilot fencing has been completed in Maasai Mau water tower.
The highly degraded parts of Maasai Mau Forest now have a new lease of life as Phase One of an Sh8 million electric fence has been completed.
The area to be saved is home to elephants, leopards and giant forest hogs.
Tanui said the agency has reclaimed over 13,000 hectares of encroached forest land in Maasai Mau, and fenced 30km of the first phase of the forest.
He said they have also provided 1,420 beehives and honey processing equipment to 12 community groups across seven water towers as part of empowering communities that reside near water sources.
Tanui said the agency has constructed and installed water harvesting systems in Hurri Primary school, Mariashoni Secondary School, Ilmeejooli Primary School, Tshimba Secondary School, Funju Secondary School, Endau Primary School and Getab Primary School.
The departmental committee proposed to see how the agency will be anchored in law, saying it should demonstrate its value to the country’s development.
"Water towers are very critical. There would be no food and the economy will be affected if we do not address some of the issues," Gikaria said.
KWTA has a board of directors which consists of a non-executive chairperson appointed by the President.
The chairman and members of the board, other than ex-officio members, hold office for a term of three years and are eligible for re-appointment for one further term.
The board is responsible for the administration, management and development of the agency.
The board receives donations, grants or other money on behalf of the agency and makes legitimate disbursement, among other roles.
