Forestry Service will fund itself from next year, Ruto says

President William Ruto during the passing out parade of KFS inspector cadets and forester trainees at the National Youth Service headquarters in Gilgil, Nakuru County. [PCS]

Kenya Forest Service (KFS) will start funding its activities from the revenues it generates from the next financial year.

President William Ruto made the disclosure during the KFS rangers' pass out parade at the Forest Law Enforcement Academy in Gilgil.

Ruto said KFS will not be funded by the exchequer since the Service can now generate revenue that can sustain its activities.

"This year, we only supported KFS to a tune of Sh280 million. The rest of the Sh4.7 billion budget is raised by KFS itself. I have the undertaking of the minister and KFS that from next year, KFS will exit from requiring resources from the exchequer and they will run their affairs using internally generated resources," Ruto said.

He added that other agencies like Kenya Wildlife Service will soon be expected to join the list of agencies that sustain their activities. He attributed the milestone to implementation of reforms aimed at streamlining the sector.

"In the last two years, illegal logging and criminal activities in our forests have reduced by 90 per cent. Agencies can run on internally generated resources if we can develop capacity including the human resource," Ruto said.

He said KFS initially faced challenges including laxity, incompetence and integrity challenges that prevented it from generating resources.

He said that the government will continue to develop and refine institutional frameworks within the sector including amending the Forest Conservation and Management Act 2016.

Ruto added that some of the regulations have been put in place to allow timber manufacturers to exploit local resources where they are required to follow the public procurement and asset disposal function when seeking allocation of trees in commercial forests.