Forest boss accuses Friends of Karura of embezzling funds, explains tarmacked road

Chief Conservator of Forests Alex Lemarkoko has hit back at the Friends of Karura Forest (FKF), accusing the community trust of financial impropriety and misleading Kenyans over claims of forest grabbing.

Speaking Tuesday night on Citizen TV’s The Explainer Show, Lemarkoko said an audit commissioned by the Ministry of Environment had exposed irregularities in FKF’s management of Karura’s finances.

“An audit was carried out by our ministry, and a number of issues were unveiled. You will be shocked at the kind of embezzlement of funds by FKF,” he said, adding that FKF had also failed to provide certified accounts to the KFS Board, terming it a “serious deviation” from the agreement.

“The other requirement is that the parties shall prepare a work plan and a budget, both of which must be approved by the Kenya Forest Service. Friends of Karura have not been submitting their budgets and work plans to the Service."

According to the Conservator, the audit further revealed “fraudulent financial practices involving public funds collected by FKF,” including manipulation of surplus revenue, willful non-disclosure of financial records, and failure to submit work plans, bank balances, and financial statements.

“The conclusion is that although we are in agreement as two parties, one party is frustrating the contract between us. That is why the ministry undertook the audit and discovered these issues,” he said.

“FKF, however, is not informing Kenyans about these matters. Instead, they are only telling us that Karura is being grabbed, or that a road is going through Karura. That is not true. You cannot grab a forest now."

He dismissed claims of encroachment, citing strict safeguards in law. “The current Forest Conservation and Management Act is so stringent — Section 34 requires numerous processes before a boundary can be altered — that it is practically impossible to grab a forest in Kenya today. Grabbing of forests is a matter of the past,” he explained.

On the controversial shift of Karura’s payments to the government’s eCitizen platform, Lemarkoko underscored that the move was aimed at transparency and efficiency, not restructuring.

“FKF must therefore speak the truth and stop diverting attention from the main agenda. The main agenda is that we must transform and transit from manual collection of land revenues to the eCitizen platform. This does not change the structure of FKF. All staff will continue to work, and KFS will facilitate that through the joint account,” he noted.

The forest chief defended the construction of 3.2 kilometres of tarmac roads inside Karura, which have been a subject of debate across social media platforms, clarifying that they were meant to link facilities within the forest headquarters, not carve through the woodland.

“It’s not the forest itself. Actually, the issue is that we have a headquarters, which is located inside the forest. The headquarters has a network of roads that link it with the staff quarters, the canteen area, the information centre, and the senior staff houses. All those roads — we were able to secure support from one of our stakeholders who opted to do 3.2 kilometres of roads within Karura. That is why we are doing it. It’s not going into the forest,” he said.

The remarks come against the backdrop of a court battle between FKF and KFS, with the community trust challenging the government directive to shift revenue collection to eCitizen, arguing it undermines their joint management model.