Conservator vouches for a good working relationship with the community

Eco system conservator in Kirinyaga county Monica Masimbo wants a cordial co-existence with the community living around Mt Kenya forest.
Masimbo said Kenya Forest Service has had a good working relationship with the community and she would like it maintained like that.
“Just recently when we had wild fires in Mt Kenya the community came out in large numbers and greatly assisted in putting them out,” she said.
The conservator was reacting to a recent incident where some rangers from the Kenya Wild life Service allegedly attacked, beat and killed a resident alleging they found him in the forest without permission.
Masimbo speaking to the media at Kutus said Kenya Forest service rangers have had no incident with the community.
“The public should be able to differentiate between our rangers and the KWS rangers, we are two different entities with different mandates” she said.
Masibo said it was unfortunate even the police who booked the four suspects involved in the alleged crime booked them as rangers from the Kenya forest service.
The mistake she said has since been corrected and right people rightly charged.
She said the community sometimes is not able to tell the difference between the rangers from the KWS and KFS, this is why we are now educating the community to tell the difference.
Masimbo said they have also creating awareness to the public for sustainable tree growth, social and economic development.
She said many of the residents have taken to cutting down trees from their farms due to the closure of the forests.
“We now target to plant five million trees this season and I am sure we will achieve it. We are now putting measures in place to ensure we start the exercise immediately the rain comes,” she said.
She said awareness also involves encouraging the public to set aside 10 per cent of their land for planting of trees.
The official said the forest cover in Kirinyaga has surpassed the national target of 10 per cent and currently stands at 27.8 per cent.
Chief executive environment Jackline Njogu who was also present during the awareness campaign said they target to plant one million trees in 2019.
She said the government should impose heavy fines for those found engaging in illegal felling of trees.
Area deputy county commissioners, Edwin Chabari said Mwea has been hit by an acute shortage of water and rationing has been introduced to ensure water got down to the low lying areas.
He said those living upstream should desist from interfering with the free flow of water adding that irrigation has been suspended for now.
During the awareness campaign, members of the public were treated to a demonstration of how to plant trees.
By Irungu Mwangi