The Environment and Lands Court has refused to issue conservatory orders stopping evictions in Maasai Mau forest. Justice Mohammed Kullow on Wednesday called for inter partes hearing on August 6. Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony had filed a petition this morning to stop the government from evicting settlers, saying more than 40,000 stand to lose.
So far the government has secured about 12,000 hectares of forest land, kicking out 7,082 people and demolishing over 1,700 temporary structures in the 46,000-hectare Maasai Mau forest in the close of the first phase last week.
Narok County Commissioner George Natembeya said phase two is set to begin. The evictions have been carried out in Kosia, Nkoben, Arorwet, Kipchoge and Total.
A section of leaders from Rift Valley politicians last week claimed that Raila Odinga is masterminding the ongoing eviction of settlers in the Mau Forest to undermine Deputy President William Ruto. Staunch Ruto ally and Senate Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen claimed Raila was working with unnamed government officials to scuttle the Deputy President’s 2022 bid.
“There are some people who recently joined the government through the back door and are working with some government officials to remove people from Mau,” Murkomen said. “In their memorandum which led to a peace deal, one of the agenda items was to evict people from Mau so that they create a wedge between the settlers and their leaders,” the Elgeyo Marakwet senator claimed.
His statement drew a swift reply from National Assembly Minority leader John Mbadi who accused Murkomen of “making up things in a bid to shield Ruto”.
“No one should take Murkomen seriously. He is fond of making up things. We are telling him and his boss, the DP, to deal with the issue. They are in government and Mau eviction is their work,” said Mbadi, also the ODM party chairman.
Murkomen was speaking to evictees at Koitoben in Melelo ward, Narok South constituency, yesterday. He was accompanied by nine other legislators They asked those evicted to return to the forest.
“I don’t want to hear anybody saying that he has been sent by the government to remove people from their farms. I am speaking on behalf of the government,” Murkomen said.
He promised that the government would supply the victims with building materials so that they can return to the forest from today. “We will return soon to supervise the process of returning to your homes,” he said.
Mau Forest, the biggest water catchment area in the region, has been a hot potato for years. In 2010, Ruto opposed Raila’s efforts to restore the forest, riding on the issue to alienate him [Raila] from most voters in Rift Valley in the 2013 General Election. Raila, then Prime Minister charged with coordination of government functions, had been tasked by a Cabinet resolution to spearhead the restoration of the water tower.
Although critical to the survival of many rivers that support thousands of livelihoods from the highlands down to Lake Victoria, the Mau Forest has been reduced into patches through settlements and wanton destruction overseen by previous governments.
In some areas of the Mau, the thick forest has been replaced by grasslands dotted with tree stumps or neat fields of wheat and maize. Truckloads of pricey charcoal and hardwood have for years left the forest. In June, a government task force on the state of forests presented its report to DP Ruto, revealing how extensive logging had depleted Kenya’s forest cover. A logging moratorium is in place. Last month, the government embarked on a national tree planting exercise launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta, but it seems to have fizzled out.
The evictions are part of the recommendations of the task force, although politicians have not been enthusiastic about its implementation, instead minting political capital out of the disaster. It remains to be seen whether the plan will be sacrificed at the altar of politics. Yesterday, Environment CS Keriako Tobiko was defiant.”We are not turning back on this issue. It is important that those playing politics with the Mau stop because their actions are not just killing human beings; they are also killing tourism and other economic activities that depend on the forest,” Tobiko said.
Murkomen said the National Assembly and Senate will tomorrow summon Narok County Commissioner George Natembea over the violation of the rights of the people of Mau.
“As leaders we want to know where the commissioner was drawing the powers from by evicting settlers in an inhumane way,” Murkomen said. He asked why the commissioner continued removing people from their homes even after Kericho senator Aaron Cheruiyot and Bomet East MP Beatrice Kones visited the area on Wednesday, ostensibly sent by the government.
“If 2022 is about the Mau issue, do not play with the lives of the people,” Koech said, invoking succession politics.