KFS launches three policy documents to fight graft in forest sector

Faced with an uphill task to attain the 10 percent forest cover by the end of 2022, eight years shorter from the 2030 target, the government has unveiled three policy documents to help minimise rampant lose of a ray of tree species.

Unveiled yesterday at the Kenya Forest service (KFS) headquarters, the documents; The Code of Conduct and Ethics; Corruption Prevention Policy and the Whistle-blowing Policy, are expected to enhance the institution’s attention to protection of forest resources.

Wildlife and forest experts said countries with weak systems in institutions mandated with the task of managing forests, have incurred huge loses running into billions of dollars.

Sylvie Bertrand, the deputy regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) in East Africa must have strong institutions to detect and deter corruption in this sector.

“The documents being launched here today are important and aimed at helping Kenya Forest Service to address the challenges brought by forest crimes differently. At the parks for instance, the removal of the cash element in payments at entrances, has minimised the risk for corruption,” she said during the International Anti-Corruption Day.

She said that even as the world has nine years to complete the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need to have efficient institutions to implement those targets is inevitable, and one of them is to have a strong anti-corruption mandate.

“We have 10 years to go to attain the SDG targets and Kenya is fighting corruption from different fronts, but to achieve this, we cannot only address forest and wildlife crime based on SDG 16 without SDG 16. This is because we are talking about strong institutions and those three documents are aimed to do exactly that,” Bertrand said.

Goal 16 states; promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, while 15 is about protecting; restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

“For us it is not just looking at the SDG 15, but as the whole package trying to address, and in this particular context, we need a strong institution to do that. Kenya is underway to achieve the SDG, but it’s all about sustaining and addressing systemic issues,” she added.

The policy documents will also define industry standards for State and non-state actors in combating organised crime and corruption in the forestry sector. 

“The whistle blowing policy will allow internal and external reporting to enable the institution to be aware and to properly investigate and address those complains, while the Corruption and Prevention Policy will provide us with all the internal rules in order to set the mechanisms in place within the institution so that they can prevent corruption,” Javier Montano, UNODC’s regional coordinator in charge of Wildlife and Forest Crime Programme said.

On the other hand, the code of conduct and ethics provides the framework of behaviour of what’s expected of personnel at KFS on how they should behave as officers.

This policy tasks the officers to commit to uphold the Code of conduct, and fosters individual obligation.

Speaking during the launch, Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s Administration Secretary, Joel Kitili challenged KFS to institute adequate adoption mechanisms of the tools outlined in the manuals.

Principal Deputy Chief Conservator of Forests, Monica Kalenda lauded the stewardship of the partner organizations in helping KFS mainstream corruption prevention by aiding in establishing a  corruption prevention committee, and integrity committee and a complaints committee.

Deforestation deprived Kenya’s economy an estimated average Sh6 billion annually between 2010 and 2020 six times higher than the estimated Sh1.3 billion injected from forestry and logging each year.

Last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta instructed the Ministry of Environment to work round the clock them to see that the 10 percent target to attain forest cover is achieved next year from 2030.

“We now have an enabling a legal framework to achieve it,” he said.

This commitment is part of a pan-African, country-led effort to restore 100 million hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes, and Kenya has devoted itself to restore 5.1 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2030 as its contribution to the African Forest and Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100).

The government has estimated the total cost of implementing the 2022 target to be around Sh43 billion over four years.

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