Friends of Karura Forest Association (FKF) has announced that it will move to court to challenge the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) decision to shift entrance fee payments for Karura Forest to the government’s eCitizen platform.
Speaking on Monday, September 1, FKF board member Karanja Njoroge said the association was not consulted before KFS decided to introduce a new payment system for Karura Forest.
Njoroge also argued that the KFS takeover of the forest has threatened the jobs of FKS staff who have been working in the forest.
“We have signed agreements, and we will go to court. The only place you can run when you are under attack is the judicial system, which looks at the situation, the investments we have made, our blood, work, sweat, and money.
“People greedy enough come and not just take what we have arranged for the community pay, but also increase; it's painful, any fair person can see the pain with this attitude of a government office,” said Njoroge.
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The FKF board member pointed out that KFS violated the existing Karura Forest management plan 2021–2041.
Njoroge said KFS should have negotiated with FKS before changing the Karura Forest fee payments to eCitizen.
“We invested Ksh37 million, even more, in Karura Forest. That could have been negotiated around a table, you don’t look down on us like we don’t matter,” he added.
On Thursday, August 29, KFS announced that all visitor payments for Karura Forest services will be processed through the government's e-Citizen digital platform.
In a statement, the service justified the change as compliance with a government directive mandating that all public services migrate to the centralized e-Citizen platform.
However, FKF and the Green Belt Movement protested KFS’s decision to change the payment system.
Former Chief Justice David Maraga also faulted the decision, arguing that KFS contravened the constitution as the government did not carry out public participation.
“The lack of public participation regarding the change in the management of Karura Forest is a clear violation of Article 10 of the Constitution. The increase in entrance fees and the directive to use the questionable eCitizen, a platform which the Auditor General has raised serious concerns about, puts to question the true intentions of the move by the Kenya Forest Service,” said Maraga.
KFS Chief Conservator of Forests Alex Lemarkoko on Saturday said the new payment system will not disrupt the experience of Karura Forest visitors.
Lemarkoko noted that all other aspects of forest management will remain the same, including staff, scouts, clerks, cleaners, and contract employees.
