Probe team proposes eviction of all settlers to save key water tower

All settlers within the Mau Forest Complex should be moved, a taskforce that looked into ways of conserving the resource has proposed. Only settlers with genuine documentation will be compensated or resettled elsewhere, says the team that was set up in July 2008.

In a report obtained by the Nation, the committee says those to be resettled should be allocated two and half hectares each. And people who owned land elsewhere before being settled in the crucial water tower should not be compensated or resettled, the committee says.

The committee, headed by Rift Valley provincial commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan, further suggests that those who acquired land in the expansive forest using false documents should not be compensated. Multiple allocations of the forest land is to be nullified and those who qualify only compensated once.

Also to be moved are those settled on bio-diversity and water bodies contrary to 2001 government excisions. Third parties who purchased land and have title deeds stand to be compensated but those who sold to them and government officials involved are to be prosecuted.

Just like corporate organisations, including tea estates, those who settled beyond land adjudication on trust land will not be compensated or resettled if the report is implemented. Indigenous forest inhabitants like the Ogiek will be encouraged to voluntarily give back land they were holding and resettled.

A special multi-sectoral resettlement board will be established in the Prime Minister’s Office to address the resettlement and compensation, which will take two years to complete. The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) should be fully operationalised and well-funded as per the Forest Act and one joint unit be formed to patrol the Mau Complex, the report says.

Currently, KFS, Kenya Wildlife Service, Administration Police and Narok County Council askaris patrol the forest. The report proposes a central reporting centre for policing and patrolling Mau. Narok County Council has been asked to contract an independent organisation to run Maasai Mau Forest and secure its boundaries.

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The allocation of the Mau Forest to undeserving individuals including senior government officials resulted in some parts of the forest being wiped out completely.

Seven forest blocks forming part of the larger Mau Complex were affected as Eastern Mau, Molo, Mount Londiani and Nabkoi forests were excised for human settlement. Others are Northern Tinderet, Southern Tinderet, South West Mau and Western Mau.

Non-existent

Molo Forest became non-existent thereafter with 100 per cent human settlement while Eastern Mau lost 54 per cent of forest land which was allocated to individuals consisting of the who is who in government.

The report by the task force set up by Prime Minister Raila Odinga traces the genesis of the destruction to 2001 when the government excised 61,586 hectares and allocated it to individuals with total disregard of a court order barring this.

A total of 60 objections to the excision of the Mau Forest had been submitted by individuals and non-governmental organisations but the government went ahead, says the report.

It says though the initial purpose was to settle the Ogieks and the victims of the 1997 tribal clashes, many undeserving people were allocated land in the forest beyond the limit put in place to safeguard the forest, the report says.

The report faulted the government for establishing settlement schemes on land which was not available in the first place. It had been planned to give genuine beneficiaries not more than five hectares per family. But, this was extended after politicians and senior civil servants joined the rush.

The report says 74 per cent of the allocations adhered to the five-hectare rule but of concern is the other 26 per cent which was allocated in excess of up to 20 hectares to senior government officers. The report says that these personalities received more than one parcel of land. The report states that out of the 27,523 parcels of land created, only 18,649 have title deeds.

Additional reporting by Noah Cheploen