Imenti Forest airstrip will be ready next week, says PS Mugambi as projects face backlash

Conservationists have condemned the plan while the Meru Environment and Land Court has issued conservatory orders barring any activity to excise the forest.

Despite this, the government started clearing the forest at Kithoka area on Thursday under tight security, with officials remaining tight-lipped on the matter.

Speaking during Kimeru Institute pre-launch dinner on Friday night, Mr Mugambi said that the airstrip was already under development.

Former governor Kiraitu Murungi, who is the founder and chairman of the institute, hosted the dinner.

"Currently, you can't land in Meru because there is no functional public Airstrip. Yet Embu has an airstrip and Nyeri has two. However, having consulted widely, it is only fair that I deliver the projects to the people of Meru. On Thursday, we will land the first plane in Meru," Mr Mugambi said. 

Mr Murungi revealed that his administration facilitated the leasing of land from KFS but failed to get approval from the ministry. 

"The golf course and the airstrip are being done in a degraded section of the forest. Once the golf course is done, we will also plant trees," Mr Murungi said. 

The airstrip is already being developed at Kithoka area, in a section that is under rehabilitation by members of community forest associations. 

In 2024, North Imenti MP Rahim Dawood requested President William Ruto to set aside 20 acres of forest land for an airstrip, drawing backlash.

Kenya Forest Service (KFS) rangers deployed to guard all entrances barred journalists who tried to access the site on Thursday. 

More guards were deployed to the site on Friday and locals accessing the forest were frisked for smartphones supposedly to stop them from recording the activities inside the forest.

On Friday night, PS Mugambi defended the projects saying he was implementing plans conceptualised more than 10 years ago. 

"Some of the projects we are doing now were started by Peter Munya as first governor. However, no government official wanted to give the final approval. Since I have the opportunity now, I have to append my signature to deliver the projects to Meru," the PS said. 

In 2015, Peter Munya, the first governor of Meru, spearheaded the establishment of a nine-hole golf course at Meru showground. However, the project stalled due to a land dispute between the KFS and the Agriculture Society of Kenya (ASK).

"What our people should know is that a State Lodge will create more than 500 jobs. A golf course also comes with very many jobs for residents," Mr Mugambi said.

The PS recounted how he lost a brother in an accident, because an air ambulance could not land in Meru to evacuate him in time. "My brother is not the only person we have lost because of lack of an airstrip," he said. 

Mr Murungi also told the meeting how he almost succumbed to Covid-19 due to lack of an airstrip for an air ambulance.

"I was rushed to Meru Level Five hospital at night but the doctors had to refer me (to another hospital) urgently. I was lucky to have made it to Nairobi by road. Those opposed to the airstrip do not know what they are doing," Mr Kiraitu said.

The PS further said that more than half of the 600,000-acre Mt Kenya forest sits in Meru County.

Mr Murungi, who is also the founder of Kimeru Institute, lauded the forestry PS for making the projects a reality.

"I want to be among the passengers in the first plane to land in Meru," Mr Murungi said. 

Several residents have initiated public petitions seeking to oppose the projects. 

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