21ST SEPTEMBER 2018
The National Land Commission has assisted the Kenya Forest Service to regain rightful ownership of several forest blocks after the revocation of their illegal allocation through a Kenya Gazette notice. 154 title deeds in Karura Forest, 11 title deeds in Eldoret Municipality Forest and 1 title deed in Kibwezi Forest have all been revoked. These parcels of forest land had been illegally hived off and the National Land Commission is now handing back a total of more than 210 hectares of forest land.
One of the forests that had suffered the most from illegal acquisitions is Karura forest, whereby over one hundred parcels of land had been illegally hived off. Today, 207.093 hectares of Karura Forest have had their illegal title deeds revoked. Kenya Forest Service greatly appreciates the National Land Commission for the commendable effort, which started with public hearings and has culminated in a gazette notice on the revocation of these title deeds. Issuance of titles did not follow the provisions of various applicable laws.
The Service will now intensify management of the recovered forest land so it can continue producing forest goods and services for the benefit of all Kenyans. There will be reforestation and intensified protection for natural regeneration of these recovered forest land. The Service will continue to work with the National Land Commission to ensure that all other illegally allocated parcels of forest land can revert back to the Government. Kenya Forest Service has forwarded all cases of illegal acquisition of forest land to the National Land Commission and I would advise those who are in possession of these illegal title deeds to consider surrendering them to the Commission.
Lastly, boundary realignment of all forest blocks has been ongoing to determine the extent of forest land and cases of illegal encroachment have been identified in several forest blocks through this process and the Service is working to deal with all cases of illegal encroachment into forest land.
MONICA KALENDA
AG. CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS
