The Kenya Forest Services has just triggered a fresh controversy for the Kenya Kwanza administration by unilaterally taking control of the 93-year-old Karura Forest. Legitimate public concern now exists, and interest is mounting regarding the vested interests that have once again threatened one of Kenya’s most cherished public spaces.
Like a classic Gen Z social media call, Kenya Forest Services abruptly “occupied” and took control of Karura Forest gate collections, requiring payments to be made through the controversial e-Citizen platform on 28 August. Without consulting Friends of Karura Forest (FKF) or visitors, they also raised entry fees to cover new VAT and e-citizen charges.
The FKF volunteers, 120 staff and ten community groups, who have co-managed the forest for over fifteen years, cried foul. The action undermines a binding 20-year-old memorandum between KFS and FKF. At first glance, the dispute between KFS and FKF/CFA appears to be over who manages the forest’s annual revenue of Sh 245 million. At its core, it’s a struggle over who controls the forest’s future.
Karura Forest is one of Kenya’s most popular public forests. Despite hosting over 70,000 domestic visitors and tourists each month, most are unaware of its history. People’s historian Doug Kiereini tells this story well. The forest was once occupied by the indigenous Ogiek people and cattle-herding Maasai before the Gikuyu held cultural rituals there. Our Kenya Land and Freedom and Mau Mau freedom fighters hid and strategised there.
The biggest civic battle for Karura Forest happened in the late 1980s, when the Moi-KANU regime began secretly allocating forest land to politically connected private companies. Led by Wangarĩ Maathai, public resistance grew, prompting the United Nations Environment Programme to threaten relocating from Nairobi. The government eventually backed down.
It was these and other battles to conserve Kenya’s forests that led to the amended Forest Act in 2005, which included provisions for Community Forest Associations (CFAs) to co-manage forest resources with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), as well as the establishment of the Friends of Karura Forest in 2009.
Karura Forest was declared protected land in 1901. It spans 1,063 hectares and, alongside Ngong Forest, remains one of Nairobi’s key water towers. It supports biodiversity and helps convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, which we all need to breathe. It is easily one of the city’s favourite spaces for walking and playing.
For at least a decade, Karura has been known for its safety, serenity and partnership between KFS and FKF. To the outsider, it remains unclear why KFS has disrupted the twenty-year Agreement with FKF so abruptly now. Is it linked to the court ruling two weeks before that blocked the KFS from approving 51 acres of Karura Forest for the Sh38 billion Kiambu road expansion project due to a lack of public participation and an environmental impact licence? Or is it connected to commercial interests that have sought several times to encroach on the forest’s beauty for private profit?
As the nation awaits the 22 September court hearing filed by the Friends of Karura Forest, public opinion is clear. Gate sales have dipped in protest. Several tour operators and residents’ associations, including Parklands, Gigiri Road, Hill View, Kunde Road, Kitisuru, Lakeview Estate, Mitini Estate, New Muthaiga, Peponi Road, the Rosslyn associations, and Spring Valley, have called for the forest to be restored to FKF.
With 800 UN staff and their families set to relocate to Gigiri, the international community remains oddly silent. Attacking one of Nairobi’s key attractions now raises the question. Is the state safeguarding public space or allowing others to chase profit from the expected boom? The silence from the Presidency and the CS for Environment is also deafening. Will they wait until this becomes another mass grievance and international scandal before acting?
A decade ago, I learned about “grabbiosis”, the disease of greed enabled by the silence of the powerful. Karura Forest isn’t about profit or politics; it belongs to the people. Once again, like Prof Wangarĩ Maathai, we are called to #BeAHummingBird, act and protect it for future generations. Will you??
Irũngũ Houghton is the Executive Director of Amnesty International Kenya and writes in his personal capacity. Email: [email protected]