Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has blamed the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his brother Raila Odinga for the looming Mau eviction.
The Senate majority leader claims that politicians have turned against Mau residents and are pushing for evictions without a proper resettlement plan. He said that police are brutally mishandling the residents, burning their houses even before the official exercise.
“Polisi wanachapa watu hapa kama wanyama… Serikali ya Jubilee haiwezi Kubali mtoto yeyote hapigwe… 4000 children from seven schools are out of school…alafu mnakuja kusema ati kutafanyia siasa, wamama watoto wao wanakufa wakijifungua… mimi nimekosea kuja kulia na watu wangu.. wengine wanasema Murkomen anyang’anywe kiti ya majority leader,mi nimekosea wapi? Hii kitu ya Mau ndio ilileta Uhuru na Ruto pamoja. So nimeambiwa nisiende kuongea mambo ya Mau eti itaharibu handshake ya Raila na President,” Murkomen said.
Where is Murkomen!?in Government or opposition!?
Posted by Peter Mango on Thursday, 29 August 2019
Murkomen who said that his position as majority leader is under threat because of his stand on the Mau issue wants President Uhuru Kenyatta to honour his campaign pledge and visit Mau residents to assure them of proper evictions.
The government has shut down 15 schools in the forest ahead of the evictions. Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya said that the schools are not government institutions and have been set up in the area illegally.
15 SCHOOLS that were illegally built in Mau Forest shut; Regional Commissioner Natembeya says no pupil should report to the centres on Monday. pic.twitter.com/xeL341xYDW
— NationBreakingNews (@NationBreaking) August 29, 2019
The government is targeting to reclaim 17,000 acres of land in the evictions which will affect 10,000 households.
Mau schools shut:
Government orders 15 schools shut. Gov’t keen on effecting planned evictions. Over 4000 pupils to be affected by eviction.
Phase two evictions to take 60 days.
Natembeya: No one will be spared #DayBreak pic.twitter.com/9YL47kBgvz— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) August 29, 2019
The government has given the affected families 60 days to voluntarily vacate the area or be evicted