Kenya Forest Service Clarifies Petition Seeking to Remove e-Citizen Payment at Karura Forest

Kenya Forest Service has responded to petition doing rounds online, urging the public to sign up and support a reverse to recent changes to direct all gate charges and other fees at Karura Forest to be made through the eCitizen platform.

In a statement of September 13, KFS noted that the e petition is urging the public to push for a return to the previous system whereby the Community Forest Association was collecting all revenue and utilizing it to fund management of the forest.

The petition further alleges there is danger of Karura forest becoming an insecure area and there are chances of grabbing and encroachment.

However, KFS stayed that the information contained in the petition are false.

“The decision to move revenue collection to the e-Citizen platform is informed by a Government directive. Gazette Notice No 16008 of 2022 directs all national government revenues received by national government entities be collected into the E-Citizen platform,” KFS said.

Karura Management & Security

KFS explained that apart from changing the mode of revenue collection, all other aspects of joint co-managemement of Karura forest remain the same.

It cited the Forest Conservation and Management Act, 2016 which requires the Service to work with forest adjacent communities to co-manage all gazetted forests.

Similarly, KFS said the security of the Forest will not change.

“Security of Karura forest is assured due to the existence of an electric fence and continous patrols by Forest Rangers and Community scouts. This will not change,” KFS said.

Employees Jobs Safe

KFS said all employees at Karura Forest will continue working and none of them will be laid off.

The Service asked the public to dismiss suggestions that there will be job losses at the Forest.

“The Karura CFA employees will continue with their normal duties and the notion there will be job losses is false and misleading and none of these employees have received any communication to terminate their services, ” KFS said.

However, the Service decried that some of the employees have not reported to work despite the reassurance from government.

“Despite this reassurance, the management of the CFA has warned these employees to boycott work with only a handful reporting back to their normal duties,” KFS said.

Past Insecurity Incidents

KFS noted that the narrative used by the CFA to keep reminding the public of how insecure Karura forest was in the past is misleading since there is no possibility of reversing gains made over the years.

The Service said there is a law that now governs management of forests in Kenya, which was not the case prior to 2007 when forests were managed by the Forest Department through Forest Act (Cap 385).

“In the past three decades Kenya has witnessed Forest Sector Reforms which have secured all forest blocks for posterity,” KFS added.

Further, KFS said Participatory Forest Management Plans have proved to be successful in the conservation, protection and management of all 179 forest blocks countrywide.

The Service said CFAs benefit from various user rights such as bee -keeping, eco tourism, collection of medicinal herbs and fuelwood among other benefits.

“As per the PFMP of Karura forest, CFA members will continue to access agreed upon user rights,” it said.

Visitors

KFS revealed that visitors have continued streaming into the forest to undertake various recreational activities.despite efforts to spread false information to scare them.

Kenya Forest Service said it is committed to uphold high standards and to provide professional services within Karura forests to ensure it remains a premier urban green space.

“The public is therefore urged to disregard the online petition and seek clarification from Kenya Forest Service on any matter of concern. All are welcome to visit Karura and gates open between 6.00am to 6.00pm daily,” KFS said.

Kenya Forest Service headquarters in Nairobi. PHOTO/SG.

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Nancy Osumba

I am Nancy Osumba, a literature student at Pwani University currently pursuing additional training in Mass Media and Communication. I am passionate about writing and have contributed health-focused articles to Standard Media. Beyond academics, I gained valuable organizational and leadership experience as Secretary at Sunflower Trust. My interests lie in combining media, communication, and literature to promote awareness and create positive social impact.