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Logging in Mount Kenya forest pits politicians against local community


By Kagondu Njagi | Wed, 20 Jul 2016 09:08 AM



By Kagondu Njagi

THARAKA NITHI, Kenya, July 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Logging in the Mount Kenya National Park has set a group of politicians against a local community in a dispute over land rights involving allegations of privilege, harassment and violence.

Atiriri Bururi ma Chuka, a local conservation group whose name translates as "keepers of Chuka community land", says four politicians are working with a company that is felling trees on a 24,000-acre strip of protected forest land.

The company, Kamweru Farm, has cleared more than 15 acres, says Atiriri, which has mapped the land, and work is continuing, which could scare off wildlife, contribute to climate change, and curb the forest's ability to replenish freshwater stocks, impacting locals' livelihoods.

Commercial logging is prohibited on the land, which is a government reserve but also claimed by the Chuka community. However, the politicians say they obtained a permit in 2014 from the District Forestry Office to harvest trees.

The forestry office confirmed a permit was issued two years ago for the purpose of "forestry research" under the mandate of the Mount Kenya Community Forest Association.

That association is legally recognised by the government to perform activities in the forest such as tree planting and forest fire prevention.

Atiriri's chairman Ngai M'Uboro said the politicians received a permit that communities would never be able to access, taking away a valued local resource.

Politician John Muchiri, who is the Tharaka Nithi County Assembly speaker, said he and three other politicians linked to Kamweru Farm have a permit to legally harvest wood and accused political opponents of trying to sully his name ahead of an election next year.

"I am not involved in any illegal activities because I have a permit allowing me and my partners to cut trees from the forest," Muchiri told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone.

"What I know is that some groups, which I will not name, are working with my political opponents to frustrate my efforts to win the Tharaka Nithi Member of Parliament seat in 2017."

The row over the clearance of the land in a forest reserve, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, has caused tempers to flare - and even violence - highlighting the tensions involved in land disputes being fought across Africa.

One member of Atiriri was shot dead by security guards earlier this year as several group members patrolled the area looking for illegal loggers.

The local government said it had not received any reports of illegal logging and would act if it did.

Tharaka Nithi County Environment Minister Albert Mugambi said he believed the forest was fully guarded by the Kenya Forest Service.

"We are not aware of any politician involved in (illegal) logging," Mugambi said in a telephone interview. "If anyone is doing this, it is illegal. They are thieves and should face the full force of the law."