The Environment and Land court has certified as urgent a petition seeking to stop the government from enforcing payment of fees to Karura Forest through the e-Citizen platform.
Friends of Karura Community Forest Association rushed to court accusing the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Ministry of Environment of unilaterally directing that entry fees be channeled through the e-Citizen platform.
The association argues that there was no public participation and the people were not consulted before the decision was made.
Further, it is their argument that no justification has been made to support the move, and certainly there is none that justifies the abrupt decision.
Justice Omollo directed the association to serve the ministry and other respondents named in the case, ahead of the hearing on September 22.
“The absence of public participation violates the Constitution as the lack of transparency and procedural fairness contravenes the very tenets of inclusion, envisioned in building up the framework of participatory forest management, and involvement of the people in governance, including the forests,” the association said in the petition.
The association has also sought orders to block KFS from increasing forest access fees, without public participation.
Mr Karanja Njoroge said in an affidavit that the association and KFS entered into a binding joint forest management agreement under the Karura Forest Management Plan (2021–2041), pursuant to the Forest Conservation and Management Act.
The agreement, he said, includes provisions for shared operational responsibilities and revenue collection through a jointly managed bank account.
In the agreement, the parties collect all revenue for entrance gates, events and all other activities in the forest area, and deposit it in an account jointly run by the parties in a bank account approved by KFS.
The revenue is spent for payment of salaries of staff of Friends of Karura Forest staff Salaries and all relevant administrative costs, maintenance of the fence and other infrastructure as well as implementation of the Karura Forest Management Plan.
Mr Njoroge added that the joint management committee works through developed work plans for, which inform the utilization of the funds.
He added that in the current financial year, while as the budget was drawn by the committee alongside the work-plan, the Chief Conservator of Forests, allegedly declined to approve the budget and any spending and instead, directing that a team be constituted to look into the operations of the association in respect of the joint mandate.
Mr Njoroge said the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, does not provide for the rerouting of funds from centralised platforms like eCitizen to joint management accounts.
“Nor does it offer a lawful pathway for paying staff who are not employed through the Public Service Commission. Many of Karura Forest’s frontline workers, including community rangers and support staff, are funded directly from locally retained revenue. Without access to these funds by the Petitioner, as their employer, their livelihoods and the forest’s day-to-day operations are at risk,” he said.
He said the framework has proved to be a successful model of community-based conservation and the move to centralize the revenue, without a clear legal mechanism for disbursement threatens the sustainability of the model and undermines the operational autonomy that has made Karura a national conservation success story.
The association added that the auditor-general reports have repeatedly flagged concerns about the transparency and accountability of eCitizen collections.
Mr Njoroge said delays in remittances, lack of reconciliation mechanisms, and absence of a legal framework for revenue sharing make centralization premature and potentially harmful.
“Until a designated fund is gazetted and a clear legal instrument is established to support Karura Forest’s joint management structure, we urge that its revenue remain decentralized to safeguard its integrity, staff welfare, and conservation mission,”’ he said.
Karura Forest sits on approximately 1041.3 hectares and is jointly managed by KFS and the association.
