The government, through the Ministry of Environment, has withdrawn a set of regulations gazetted in April that sought to, among other things, realign the country's approval processes for environmental oversight after public uproar.
While appearing before the Senate Committee on Delegated Legislation on Monday, July 28, the Environment Principal Secretary (PS) Festus Ng’eno announced that the Ministry had taken the step to withdraw the regulations after widespread consultations.
Public participation for Legal Notice No. 71 Environmental Management and Coordination (Strategic and Integrated Environmental Assessments and Environmental Audits) Regulations, 2025 will now resume.
“We have resolved to withdraw the Legal Notice No. 71 of 2025 after we realised that we were heading nowhere. We have done that to allow more consultations and involvement of all the stakeholders,” PS Ng’eno told the committee.
He further revealed that the Ministry had already notified the Clerk of the Senate and would formally communicate the same to the National Assembly on Tuesday, July 29.
A letter to the clerk reads, “The Ministry wishes to have the Legal Notice withdrawn from the legislative process so as to facilitate further public consultation processes, being the outcome of further stakeholder deliberations. We endeavour to table the Statutory Instrument before the House at the appropriate time."
The withdrawal follows a directive from the committee chair and Tharaka Nithi Senator Mwenda Gataya's directive to CS Doborah Barasa to revisit the proposed regulations in light of public concerns or risk annulment.
The regulations sought to establish a system for environmental assessment (EA), strategic environmental assessments (SEA), and environmental audits (EAudits) to ensure sustainable environmental planning and management.
Among its key regulations was that a proponent cannot implement a project likely to have a negative environmental impact or requiring an integrated environmental assessment without first undertaking the assessment and being granted an integrated environmental assessment licence by the Authority.
This led the Environment Institute of Kenya (EIK) to petition Parliament, calling for a comprehensive legal review of the 2025 Regulations to ensure compliance with the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013 and adherence to constitutional requirements on transparency and public participation.
EIK also recommended immediate suspension or annulment of the regulations and requested a formal hearing for environmental professionals and stakeholders to offer input and propose reforms.
Following the withdrawal, the committee welcomed the Ministry’s decision but urged strict compliance with the law to prevent similar occurrences in the future. They further called on the Ministry to expedite and gazette the withdrawal.
