PS puts illegal sawmills on notice ahead of end to logging ban

A truck transporting logs to a timber factory is pictured on Njoro-Molo road near Elburgon town on August 27, 2020.

Photo credit: John Njoroge | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • In an advert in the local dailies last week, the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) asked saw millers across the country to apply for logging licenses and wait to be vetted.
  • Dr Kiptoo, who spoke on Friday in Kaptagat, Elgeyo Marakwet, said the government will only deal with serious business people who must be registered.
  • Major sawmills in the region suspended operations and sacked tens of workers due to shortages of raw materials following the ban on logging.

Only vetted saw millers will be allowed to do business with the government once the ban on logging is lifted next month, Environment PS Chris Kiptoo has announced.

Dr Kiptoo, who spoke on Friday in Kaptagat, Elgeyo Marakwet, said the government will only deal with serious business people who must be registered.

In an advert in the local dailies last week, the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) asked saw millers across the country to apply for logging licenses and wait to be vetted.

“Anyone who wants to engage in this kind of business should register online. When the Cabinet will decide to lift the ban on logging, they will do business with the government. They will have to demonstrate their capacity in saw milling,” explained Mr Kiptoo.

He said the ministry is assessing the number of mature trees before logging begins.

“In preparation of lifting the ban, the ministry has appointed a team to assess trees. They are on the ground, we expect them to complete the exercise soon,” he said.

He added the government intends to plant more than 1.5 billion trees by 2022 to help achieve the 10 per cent forest cover.

“2030 was the year that our country was expected to achieve 10 per cent forest cover but the President revised it to 2022. Therefore, we plan to plant seven million trees next year and another eight million in 2022,” said the PS.

Shortages

Major sawmills in the region suspended operations and sacked tens of workers due to shortages of raw materials following the ban on logging.

The hard-hit include Raiply and Webuye-based Rai Paper Mills, formerly Pan Paper mills, which suspended over 2,000 workers.

The workers were sent on compulsory leave and will only resume once the raw materials are available.

A spot check by the Nation revealed minimal operations at the saw millers.

Some of the millers said they risk losing their strategic assets to auctioneers since they have loans amounting to millions of shillings .

“Financial institutions have threatened to auction our property to recover their money since we have defaulted in making payments,” said Edward Letting, one of the saw millers.

The millers have petitioned the government to refund them the millions of shillings they paid as royalties or lift the ban on logging.

In the North Rift, the government for instance collected Sh663 million as royalties from forest products in the last financial year. They claimed KFS has even denied us licences to harvest trees from commercial farms.

The government extended the ban of logging in public forests by one year 0n November 24, 2019.