Kenya: The Principal Secretary (PS) State Department of Forestry, Mr Gitonga Mugambi, has met with the KFS senior management led by the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Mr Alex Lemarkoko who is on a working retreat to finalise the development of the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan.
The PS informed the team the government was very keen on efficient and effective service delivery to the public and was therefore taking issues of performance contracting very seriously.
The PS urged the team to make sure that the Strategic Plan under development was aligned with the government’s development plans noting that the current government had prioritised environmental conservation and especially sustainable forest conservation.
Mr Mugambi reminded the KFS management team that the government’s agenda to increase the country’s tree cover to over 30% by the year 2032 and thereby set the country on a sustainable trajectory for growth had been bestowed on KFS saying that most of the country’s economic activities depended on a stable environment. He reminded the team of the importance of working closely with all the stakeholders in the sector in order to hasten the achievement of the target.
He reminded the team to make sure that documentation and reporting of the progress of tree growing is done as prescribed in order to track the progress of all forest conservation programmes.
The PS challenged KFS to diversify the revenue sources even as they streamlined the management of plantation forests which are currently the main source of income generation, by promoting transparency and accountability. He encouraged the team to strictly abide by the scientific principles of forest management, which will ensure proper management of forests.
