The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry has withdrawn the contested Environmental Management and Coordination (Strategic and Integrated Environmental Assessments and Environmental Audits) Regulations, 2025, following mounting pressure from lawmakers and professional stakeholders.

Principal Secretary Festus Ng’eno made the announcement on Monday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Delegated Legislation.

He told the Committee that the Ministry had opted to pull back Legal Notice No. 71 to pave way for more engagement and feedback from all concerned parties.

“We have resolved to withdraw the Legal Notice No. 71 of 2025 after we realised that we were heading nowhere. We have done that to allow more consultations and involvement of all the stakeholders,” said Ng’eno.

He confirmed that the Senate Clerk had already been informed of the Ministry’s decision, adding that official communication would be made to the National Assembly on Tuesday.

A formal letter presented to the Senate stated, “The Ministry wishes to have the Legal Notice withdrawn from the legislative process so as to facilitate further public consultation processes, being the outcome of further stakeholder deliberations. We endeavour to table the Statutory Instrument before the House at the appropriate time.”

The decision comes shortly after the Committee, chaired by Senator Mwenda Gataya, directed Environment Cabinet Secretary Deborah Mulongo Barasa and her team to revisit the proposed rules or risk annulment.

“We, as a Committee have a straightforward mandate. After thorough scrutiny of these Regulations, we must either annul them or allow them, there is no third option,” Senator Gataya told the meeting.

The Environment Institute of Kenya (EIK) had earlier raised concerns through a petition to Parliament, urging a detailed legal review of the 2025 regulations.

The Institute said the draft rules failed to meet the requirements of the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013, and lacked adequate public participation. It called for either suspension or annulment and pushed for a formal hearing for environmental professionals and stakeholders to present proposals.

Senators at the meeting, including Mohamed Faki (Mombasa), Betty Montet, Daniel Maanzo (Makueni), and Issa Musa Boy (Kwale), backed the Ministry’s decision to withdraw the legal notice. They, however, asked the Ministry to follow the law carefully going forward and act quickly to publish the withdrawal to avoid further confusion.