Willis Otieno: Bulldozing Karura at night is plot to commercialize public forest
Lawyer Willis Otieno has raised alarm over what he termed a clandestine plan to commercialise Nairobi’s Karura Forest, after reports emerged that bulldozers had been sneaked into the forest at night to lay tarmac roads.
In a statement on August 31, 2025, Otieno questioned the motive behind such operations, saying forests are not real estate but “the lungs of the city” that must be protected at all costs.
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“Why would anyone sneak bulldozers into Karura in the dead of night to tarmac roads inside a forest? Forests are not real estate; they are lungs. Karura is not just Nairobi’s backyard; it is a sanctuary,” he said.
Otieno hailed the Friends of Karura community, whom he credited with keeping the forest transparent, accountable, and in the public interest, adding that their stewardship had preserved Karura as one of the few remaining green spaces in the city.
He accused the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) of overstepping its mandate by allegedly sanctioning road works that could pave the way for commercial activities within the forest.
“So who gave the Kenya Forest Service the mandate to secretly partition, pave, and commercialise a public forest? Since when did KFS become a broker for impunity?” Otieno posed.
Karura Forest dispute
His remarks come a day after a dispute surfaced over the management of Nairobi’s Karura Forest following concerns raised by the Friends of Karura Forest Association (FKF) regarding what they describe as an alleged takeover of management by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the introduction of e-Citizen payment systems.
In a statement issued on Friday, the association said the move appeared inconsistent with the existing Karura Forest Management Plan (2021–2041).
According to FKF, this plan is a legally recognised framework that mandates joint management of the forest between the community group and KFS.
The association stated that it had not been consulted on any intended changes.
“This is not what we had agreed on in our management framework. This move blatantly disregards the existing Karura forest management plan. 2021-2041, a legally recognised 20-year agreement that clearly mandates the joint management of the forest between KFS and Friends of Karura,” the association said.
It added that before its involvement, the forest previously faced profound insecurity and neglect challenges.
