KFS officials blamed for unabated charcoal business in Baringo – KBC

Baringo residents have accused Kenya Forest Service (KFS) officers of laxity in apprehending those engaging in charcoal business in the lowland parts of Marigat and along the Kerio Valley zone.

Devolution CEC Scholar Kimeli said concerned authorities have turned a blind eye to the culprits of illegal logging and burning of charcoal.

Kimeli revealed that harvesters were using major highways in the County to transport charcoal and other illegal products to neighboring towns of Nakuru and Eldoret.
She now wants the illegal logging charcoal trade stopped to conserve the environment for future generations.

Kimeli raised the concerns during a county tree planting campaign held at Ensoo Spring in Ewalel Chapchap ward of Baringo Central Sub County.

Richard Rotich a representative of Governor Stanley Kiptis said it’s unfortunate that residents are burning charcoal from noxious weed that includes prosopis Juliflora, famously known as Mathenge, which provides the necessary vegetation canopy in checking massive recurrent erosion and flooding in those areas.

“We are telling our KFS officers to be vigilant enough to reduce the commercial harvesting of our trees and to team up with the County leadership to curb the menace,” urged Rotich.

Ewalel Chapchap MCA Peter Kebut, noted that the trees being burnt for charcoal were being harvested from local indigenous forests.