President William Ruto on Sunday announced the lifting of a nearly six-year ban on logging to create employment and open the sectors of the economy that rely on forest products.

The lifting of the ban comes despite the concerns of environmental campaigners.

Speaking during a church service in Molo. Ruto said the country can’t have mature trees rotting in forests while locals suffer due to a lack of timber.

“That’s foolishness. This is why we have decided to open up the forest and harvest timber so that we can create jobs for our youth and open up business.”

The Head of state said the government would push ahead with plans to plant 15 billion trees over ten years.

The end of the ban is likely to delight saw millers and timber merchants who protested that it had caused major job losses.

The previous government imposed the moratorium in February 2018 in public and community forests to stamp out rampant illegal logging and increase the nation’s forest cover to 10 per cent.

But Greenpeace Africa has warned that the decision would have in a petition against lifting the ban, saying it will have  “catastrophic environmental consequences”.

“In Kenya, forests are home to rare and endangered species, and millions of local people depend on these forests for their livelihoods, relying on them for food and medicine."

“Since the Kenyan government imposed the ban on logging six years ago, significant progress has been made in forest protection and with combatting the climate crisis,” it said.

“Lifting the ban will undo all our hard work, as it will open the floodgates to commercial and illegal logging solely driven by profit. Our forests will be at the mercy of sawmillers who have no regard for the consequences.”