The National Assembly Departmental Committee on Environment, Forestry and Mining has summoned the Principal Secretary in the State Department for Forestry, Gitonga Mugambi, who will be required to appear in the company of the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Deborah Barasa after failing to honour two committee invites.
The Committee sitting on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, chaired by Baringo South MP Charles Kamuren, who is the vice chairperson, was to get clarification on issues surrounding Ngong Forest, where there has been public uproar following the ongoing construction of a hotel on public land.
The committee was also set to probe the under-valuation of the forest area in Moi International Airport, Eldoret, where the market value is said to be Ksh3 billion and not Ksh500 million as records indicate.
“We had invited the PS to find the logic of the Ksh500 million instead of the Ksh3 billion market value. The same PS was to tell us what is happening in Ngong Forest, which is public land, and for the second time, the PS and his team are sending us a letter signed by CS Barasa, giving reasons not to appear”, Kamuren remarked.
Serious concern
“This is a serious concern; this is a State Department that is not supporting the President’s agenda on Climate Action, under our Constitution Article 125 and our standing orders in Article 1, we hereby issue summons today June 10, 2025, PS Gitonga Mugambi and CS Deborah Barasa appears before this Committee on Thursday, June 19, 2025, at 10:00 am to respond to these issues,” he added.
“That is why we had Gen Zs demonstrating all over, because some people are messing up. The president is talking about 15 billion trees, yet we can see that people working under the president are not valuing the trees,” Kamuren said.
Committee members Titus Lotee and Joseph Namuar, in their contribution, asked that the committee treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves, describing it as disrespect to the committee and the entire House.
“We invited the PS and his team to meetings even outside Parliament Buildings and they did not show up, we are asking this on behalf of Kenyans, remember the issues around logging that had started in the country, look at what has been happening in Karura forest, now Ngong Forest, trees are cut down and construction going on in our forests without a clear explanation, who is doing all these?” Lotee asked.
“The moratorium on logging was lifted. However, this was not done procedurally. Kenyans needed to understand which forests and tree species were classified for logging. The PS Forestry, during his vetting, pledged to have a green bond as part of the GDP of this country, and this gave us hope. I am, however, disappointed since we are not told the truth about what is happening to the Ngong Forest land and the Eldoret airport land. This committee must act now,” Namuar stated.
Stops activity in forests
Kamuren directed that all activities of construction, valuation and logging in Ngong and Moi International Airport Forest land be stopped with immediate effect until the PS and CS appear to give a clarification.
In her letter to the committee, CS Barasa pointed out that the PS Mugambi was not available for the meeting as he was out of the country until June 11, 2025.
The committee observed that the Ministry officials were snubbing the summons for the third time, having snubbed two previous invites to appear for questioning on the logging.
“They only come when we are discussing the budget, but when we want to discuss what they are delivering to Kenyans, they disappear, write letters of apology and behave as if they are very busy in their roles,” Turkana Central MP Joseph Namuar said.
