Concurrent Jurisdiction Without Coordination: Intergovernmental Fragmentation and the KFS-County Forest Governance Nexus in Kenya
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Abstract
Kenya enacted the Forest Conservation and Management Act (FCMA) in 2016 with the explicit intention of operationalizing devolved forest governance under the 2010 Constitution. However, the Act created a theoretically complementary but operationally incoherent governance architecture by assigning concurrent jurisdiction over community and private forests to both the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and county governments without specifying a binding operational interface between these levels. Drawing on Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework and polycentric governance theory, this desk review examines how the absence of an intergovernmental coordination protocol has produced three compounding governance failures, namely licensing ambiguity, jurisdictional boundary disputes, and a double fiscal burden on forest users, particularly sawmillers operating in community and private forest areas. Comparative analysis of Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa reveals that even well-designed legal frameworks fail when coordination instruments remain permissive rather than mandatory. The paper argues that Kenya's most actionable reform pathway lies in activating the existing Intergovernmental Relations Act 2012 to establish a mandatory sectoral forest coordination forum, revenue-sharing protocols, and statutory delegation of specified functions to county governments. The findings carry direct relevance to the Forest Conservation and Management Amendment Bill 2025, which currently replicates the original Act's coordination failure.
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