The United Green Movement (UGM) has strongly criticized President William Ruto’s decision to lift the ban on logging in the Mau Forest, terming it a “national betrayal” that threatens Kenya’s most vital water tower.

In a statement shared on their official X account, the Green Party expressed outrage at what it described as an “environmental disaster in the making,” urging Kenyans to “say a big NO to this lifting of the logging ban.”

The party further called on citizens to unite in rejecting President Ruto’s administration at the ballot in 2027, advocating for the election of a government committed to environmental protection and green job creation.

A Paradoxical Government

UGM accused the government of double standards, questioning how President Ruto could officiate the launch of the Mau Forest Complex Integrated Conservation and Livelihood Improvement Programme while simultaneously lifting a logging ban in the same forest.

“On the one hand, the government acknowledges the dangers of water scarcity, while on the other, it sanctions deforestation that worsens the crisis,” the party lamented, terming the move “double-speak and deceit.”

The party noted that the Mau Forest Complex, covering 33,000 hectares, is East Africa’s largest indigenous forest and a crucial water catchment area feeding 12 major rivers.

It sustains millions across counties such as Narok, Kericho, Nakuru, and Nairobi, while also supporting wildlife reserves like the Maasai Mara and Lake Nakuru National Park.

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Kenya’s Lungs Under Threat

Calling the Mau “the lungs of our economy,” UGM reminded Kenyans that more than 40 percent of the forest has already been lost since independence due to encroachment, land grabbing, and illegal logging.

Conservation efforts initiated in 2009 under former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and reinforced by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration had shown progress; progress now at risk, the statement warned.

“President Ruto, who often positions himself as Africa’s leading climate champion, is paradoxically presiding over the destruction of a forest barely beginning to regenerate,” UGM stated.

The party dismissed the president’s justification that the move would boost the local furniture industry, arguing that no credible environmental impact assessment had preceded the decision.

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Call for Legal and Political Action

The party’s co-secretaries, Mr. Katto Wambua and Ms. Sialo Tasur, said UGM would support all political and legal efforts to challenge the logging resumption.

They accused the government of prioritizing timber billionaires over Kenya’s ecological and economic future.

“As a Green Political Party guided by ecocentrism, we shall not allow President Ruto to suffocate the country’s lungs,” they declared.

“Kenyans must defend the Mau Forest, our nation’s lifeline, for the sake of future generations,” the statement concluded.

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United Green Movement Party Leader, David Maraga During A Past Event. PHOTO/ Maraga X