Karura Forest is facing a new controversy after the Chief Conservator of Forests, Alex Lemarkoko, accused the Friends of Karura Forest (FKF) of mismanaging funds and misleading the public about land grabs.
During an interview on Citizen TV , Lemarkoko stated that an audit commissioned by the Ministry of Environment had exposed irregularities in the FKF's management of Karura Forest's finances.
He explained that, under Section 13 of the joint management agreement, all revenues from the forest's gates must be deposited into a bank account approved by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).
He accused the FKF of ignoring this provision and other compliance rules by failing to provide certified accounts to the KFS Board.
“An audit was carried out by our ministry, and a number of issues were unveiled. You will be shocked at the kind of embezzlement of funds by FKF."
Accountability Lapses
“The other requirement is that the parties shall prepare a work plan and a budget, both of which must be approved by the Kenya Forest Service. Friends of Karura have not been submitting their budgets and work plans to the Service," he said.
Lemarkoko claimed FKF was raising alarm about land grabbing to distract the public from accountability lapses.
He said the audit revealed fraudulent financial practices involving public funds collected by FKF, including manipulation of surplus revenue, non-disclosure of financial records, and failure to submit work plans, bank balances, and financial statements.
“The conclusion is that although we agree on two parties, one party is frustrating the contract between us. That is why the ministry undertook the audit and discovered these issues,” he said.
“FKF, however, is not informing Kenyans about these matters. Instead, they are only telling us that Karura is being grabbed or that a road is going through Karura. That is not true. You cannot grab a forest now."
Lemarkoko, in his statement, dismissed the encroachment claims, adding that the shift of Karura’s payments to the government’s eCitizen platform was meant for transparency and efficiency, not restructuring.
He also defended the construction of 3.2 kilometres of tarmac roads inside Karura, saying they connect facilities at the forest headquarters and do not cut into the woodland.
The clash came as FKF and KFS battled in court over the government’s directive to shift revenue collection to eCitizen.
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