Kesses MP Dr Swarup Mishra wants the government through the Ministry of Environment to lift the ban on logging to allow Kenya Forest Service to sell mature trees.
While seeking a statement on the floor of House, Dr Mishra said the Cabinet Secretary for Environment Keriako Tobiko should outline plans in place to allow pre-qualified saw millers to harvest mature plantations.
The lawmaker said the ban has adversely affected saw millers especially during the Covid-19 pandemic period. He said lifting the ban will cushion them from lenders and the effects of coronavirus.
“Could the CS undertake to allow pre-qualified saw millers to work seven day unlike the current situation of five days?” Queried Mishra.
He said saw millers should be given five years to harvest what they had been allocated to sort out liabilities incurred during the ban.
The Deputy Speaker Moses Cheboi, who was presiding over the session directed that the question be responded to by the Departmental Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
