For decades, Karura Forest has stood not just as a green lung for Nairobi, but as a living witness to Kenya’s battles over land, power, and justice. Yet its history remains clouded by silence. Land grabbing, corruption, and political interference left scars on this forest and on the nation. It’s time we confronted that history, openly and without fear.

Karura Forest should not only be celebrated for its beauty and resilience. It should be remembered for the people who defended it when bulldozers, not birds, filled its paths. The late Prof. Wangari Maathai and her Green Belt Movement colleagues risked their lives here to stop politically connected land grabbers. Their defiance secured part of the forest for future generations.

Since the 29th Friday of 2025, Karura Forest has made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Rightly so. The forest deserves our concern. When a place of peace becomes a place of chaos, you sometimes wonder why it is happening as it is. And the fact that it holds the memory of the late Prof. Wangari Maathai makes it more emotionally appealing.

So word went that the Friends of Karura Forest were evicted from managing the park, and now the Kenya Forest Service, which has always been part of the system of managing the forest, have decided they don’t want the ‘friends’ to be part of supporting the protection and restoration of the forest anymore. Here is the situation:

• Community’s Role Dismissed
  Friends of Karura Forest (FKF), the Community Forest Association that has co-managed the forest for over a decade with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), has been abruptly sidelined. KFS took full control of entry gate operations and revenue collection via the eCitizen platform, excluding FKF entirely. The resulting fee hike and lack of consultation ripped apart the foundational co-management arrangement.
• Impact on Forest Operations
  FKF immediately sounded the alarm. Without access to gate revenues, they feared being unable to continue essential conservation and security services efforts that transformed Karura from a crime-ridden zone into the city’s most beloved urban forest.
• Public Outcry Rising
  Protests broke out at the forest entrance, condemning the move, pointing out that it violates the 2021–2041 Karura Forest Management Plan. This plan enshrined the joint stewardship model between KFS and FKF.

Wondering what happens when the state shows its muscles? This is it. But I begin to think, why now? Many videos of politicians saying it’s their time to eat in a government that has decided there is no rule of law, and they demand that everything under the Kenyan sun is theirs. Their egos are going to take what they want regardless of the situation. Plainly put: they just don’t care, and its citizens are its enemies.

But in essence, you tend to think about where exactly the country is going. And maybe it will not take us long to find out.

My theory

There is something bigger happening.

Knowing how Kenyans of today revere Wangari Maathai, this is definitely meant to distract us, even as corruption rises to levels that will take a lot of healing to recover from.

With no public participation and with a public forest at stake, it begs the question: what is being cooked?

Honestly, I have more questions than answers. Having been on Hands Off… and Save… campaigns before, I know campaigns work, but at whose cost and benefit? I’ve reached a point in this career where I read between the lines. And there are many lines to this story. Many lines we will come to read in due time, like this one.

Some say that all government institutions should be streamlined, but at what cost? With the scandal involving eCitizen, one begins to wonder for how long the current state will pilfer everything in sight. When the rule of law does not matter.

Historical Context

• Colonial roots and sacred standing: Karura began as once occupied by the Ogiek (hunters and gatherers), Maasai (pastoralists), and later the Kikuyu, gazetted in 1932, originally covering approximately 2,580 acres (around 1,041 hectares), as a forest reserve to supply wood fuel for the Uganda Railway.
• Loss and restitution: Between 1994 and 1998, over 560 hectares were secretly excised and allotted to private developers. Public outrage, led by Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, saw bulldozers destroyed and tree-planting protests that refocused the nation on Karura’s value. According to a report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and Kenya Land Alliance, irregular allocations across three forests (including Karura) cost the public about Sh18.4 billion, with Karura’s illegal land holdings valued at approximately Sh8 billion. These allocations mostly favoured politically connected individuals and institutions. In January 1999, Prof. Wangari Maathai led a tree planting protest in Karura. She and other demonstrators were attacked, which intensified public support and drew international attention.
• Friends of Karura Forest (FKF) and Joint Management: In 2009, FKF was registered. A partnership with KFS catalysed massive restoration: electric fences, reforestation and tourism viability.

Karura’s deterioration back into political theatre isn’t just about a forest; it’s about who controls it and why. In a climate where “it’s their time to eat” echoes in corridors of power, public participation is vanishing. Karura deserves better than political theatre masked as management.

Map of Karura Forest source