A House committee wants President William Ruto to rescind his decision to lift the ban on logging, even as it casts doubt on claims that one billion trees had already been planted out of the target of 15 billion.
The National Assembly’s Environment committee said that the Executive Order lifting the ban on logging “had done more harm to existing forests” and urged the President to rescind his decision.
“We are requesting the President to consider suspending the decision to lift the ban on logging because we as a committee think it is being abused and is affecting the main exercise of tree planting to attain 15 billion trees target,” committee chairperson Vincent Musyoka said when he appeared before the Budget and Appropriations committee to present the report on the Supplementary Estimates 1 of 2025/26.
“There is no reason not to impose a ban on logging. We feel that it is not doing us justice. The lifting of the ban on logging was done through an Executive Order, and we are losing a lot of forests. We think that there is a need for a new moratorium in place to stop cutting down trees when we are being told to plant.”
President Ruto, in October, 2025, issued an Executive Order lifting the ban on logging to allow the harvesting of mature trees in forests across the country. At the time, the President argued that the move would promote local industries and reduce dependence on imported timber products.
Dr Ruto said the decision was reached to ensure mature trees are put to productive use instead of rotting in forests. “I have told my Minister of Trade, Mr Lee Kinyanjui, that importing furniture from China must end. We will use our wood to make furniture,” President Ruto said while addressing residents at Molo Technical and Vocational College in Elburgon, Nakuru County.
He said the lifting of the ban is conditional and restricted to the harvesting of mature trees only and cautioned that the directive should not be misused as an excuse for illegal logging or environmental destruction.
“The lifting of the logging ban does not mean that we destroy our forests. It means we will harvest trees responsibly, replant them, and ensure our forests remain sustainable,” the President said.
The logging ban, first imposed in 2018, was aimed at curbing the destruction of forests and promoting reforestation efforts.
While lifting the ban, Dr Ruto said it will usher in a new phase where conservation and economic growth will go hand in hand through regulated and sustainable forest management.
“We have reports that some of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) rangers are involved in the illegal logging business. Since the lifting of the ban, people have been doing illegal logging,” Mr Musyoka told the BAC.
“You cannot differentiate between a licensed saw miller and an illegal logger. We, as a committee, are seeking ways that will lift the Executive Order and impose a moratorium in its place to preserve our forests.”
Mr Musyoka was responding to a question asked by Bura MP Ali Wario, who claimed that the lifting of the moratorium on logging had affected Tana River County, where indigenous trees had been targeted by charcoal burners.
A truck transporting logs along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway. Government banned logging in a bid to stop deforestation. FILE PHOTO | NMG
“There is a lot of destruction of indigenous trees where charcoal burners are cutting them down. What are you doing as a committee to stop this large-scale destruction of forests, especially indigenous forests?” Mr Wario asked.
In November 2020, the State exempted KFS from a logging ban in public and community forests and allowed the agency to sell mature trees to timber merchants.
The KFS was allowed by then Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko to harvest mature forest plantations not exceeding 5,000 hectares while extending the logging ban by a year. The ban was imposed in February 2018. The ban restricted the extraction of timber from the forests to give KFS more time to implement measures to protect forests.
The State has been losing billions of shillings as mature trees rot in public and community forests due to the ban on logging.
