Nairobi, Kenya ? Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi said Tuesday he would take “drastic measures” to stop the degradation of his African nation’s forests, including banning timber harvesting in protected areas and prosecuting offenders.

Moi made his vow a day after dozens of wealthy homeowners gathered in the pouring rain to protest the unauthorized carving up of one of two remaining forests in Nairobi.

He also blamed the chief conservator of forests and his officers for “neglecting their responsibilities and allowing forests to be destroyed.” Moi appointed a retired military official to supervise forest management.

Most of Kenya’s remaining forests are on government land theoretically protected by law. But in the past five years, many forests, particularly in vital water catchment areas on Mount Kenya and in the Rift Valley, have been deregulated and given or sold to people with government connections.

Conservationists warn that unregulated logging and chopping down trees for charcoal threatens the water supply for 30 million Kenyans. Only 12 percent of the land here is arable.