Green Belt Movement threatens legal action over Ngong Forest hotel project

The controversial hotel project under construction in Ngong Road Forest.( X/GBM)

By Rachael Mutabasi
Tuesday, May 27, 2025

The project, described as an “eco-tourism” initiative, involves building 11 luxury cottages, two restaurants, and other upscale facilities, which GBM argues effectively privatises and commercialises a vital public forest ecosystem.

The Green Belt Movement (GBM) has warned that the planned construction of a luxury hotel in Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary threatens irreversible damage to the forest. The organisation is considering legal action to halt the development.

“As custodians of Kenya’s forests and heirs to the legacy of Prof. Wangari Maathai, we will not stand by as our forests are sacrificed for private greed. We are actively exploring legal options to stop this development and protect Ngong Road Forest from irreversible degradation,” GBM stated.

More To Read

According to GBM, the development, led by Konyon Company Ltd., has been affected by numerous irregularities and a blatant disregard for public participation and environmental regulations.

GBM revealed that during a recent stakeholder consultative meeting convened by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), it became clear that the developer had failed to attend the meeting, neglecting its legal and ethical duty to facilitate meaningful public consultations.

The movement criticised the developer, Konyon Company Ltd., for failing to attend the meeting, describing this absence as a blatant disregard for transparency and public participation—a principle protected by Kenya’s Constitution.

“In a further damning revelation, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Consultant admitted that the project had already commenced before obtaining any form of licensing from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA),” said GBM in a statement.

“ This open violation of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act renders the project not only illegitimate but also environmentally reckless.”

The project, described as an “eco-tourism” initiative, involves building 11 luxury cottages, two restaurants, and other upscale facilities, which GBM argues effectively privatises and commercialises a vital public forest ecosystem.

GBM also accused the Kenya Forest Service of allegedly misusing Early Entry Permits, meant only for low-impact preliminary assessments, to authorise large-scale development without adequate oversight. The group warned that this alleged abuse of regulatory loopholes undermines sustainable forest management.

“It appears that KFS is exploiting provisions under Early Entry Permits, a mechanism meant strictly for low-impact, preliminary assessments to greenlight large-scale development activities without adequate oversight or legal justification. This abuse of regulatory loopholes to facilitate commercial interests in protected forests is an affront to the very principles of sustainable forest management,” the statement reads in part.

Despite sending a letter to KFS on May 15, 2025, seeking information about the project’s legality, process, and ecological impact, GBM said it had not received a formal response.

The silence, they added, has heightened concerns about governance failures and a lack of procedural integrity.

“The continued silence from KFS speaks volumes and only reinforces our growing concerns about procedural integrity and governance failures.”