Canada based Kenyan lawyer Dr. Miguna Miguna has faulted Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over his Shamba system remarks.
Gachagua, speaking at a funeral on Saturday, stated that the Shamba system will be reinstated.
The shamba system allows for forest cultivation.
However, after Gachagua’s revelation, Miguna stated that Gachagua should refrain from making similar remarks in the future.
“Rigathi must avoid these kinds of roadside declarations. Farming in forests is a very bad idea,” he said.
Rigathi stated that the Jubilee regime’s moratorium on the shamba system in public woods will be lifted soon.
He stated that the order would be implemented as soon as a new Environment Minister is appointed.
“There was the shamba system where citizens were allowed to cultivate crops as they care for the trees, once the trees mature they move out,” Gachagua said.
“The shamba system will return. Just wait a little for us to appoint a new Environment CS,” he added.
In 2018, the Jubilee government imposed a logging halt in public and communal forests, attracting opposition from sawmillers and surrounding communities.
The ban, imposed on the basis of a task force’s recommendations, was intended to counteract years of deforestation that had dramatically reduced the country’s forest cover.
It also put a stop to farming in forested regions, often known as the shamba system.
