Mau evictions to go on: Michuki

Environment minister John Michuki on Friday insisted that squatters in the Mau Complex have to move out.

“They will have to go. Leaving them there (Mau Forest) is not an option,” the minister said.

The government, he stated, only recognised 1,962 squatters who would be compensated for their land.

These, he said, bought the forest land from other people in the belief that the transactions were genuine.

“I started dealing with the Mau issue in 2005 and for the three years, I have established that the 1,962 actually paid for the land believing that the sellers were the owners,” said Mr Michuki.

He reiterated: “It is on that basis that the President said they should be resettled elsewhere.”

Minister’s duty

Dismissing criticism from Rift Valley MPs that he had nothing to do with Mau, Mr Michuki said it was his duty, as minister in charge of the environment, to ensure the forest was protected.

“As the minister for Environment, I will have failed in my responsibility to ensure that the Mau is conserved. We should not allow ourselves to play politics with an issue that is so internationally charged,” he told the Saturday Nation.

He asked politicians to keep politics out of conservation matters.

“I would prefer that we lose out on politics because we will get an opportunity to recover it. But as we lose Mau, we should know that it will be gone forever.”

He described the Mau issue as having taken an international security implication.

Mau supplies water to parts of Tanzania, Sudan and Egypt through rivers that drain into Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile.

“But as we take this international issue into account, we should realise that the Mara river which sustains wildlife and is a part of animal migration (The Seventh Wonder of the World) is dwindling and heading to extinction.’’

In this manner, we shall have demolished and killed the Seventh Wonder of the World and all this in the name of politics, he said.

On Wednesday, Mr Michuki sparked outrage from ministers and MPs from Rift Valley for saying squatters in Mau Forest will be removed in the next two weeks and that the government only recognised 1,962 settlers with title deeds.

His statement came a day after an agreement on Mau Forest evictions was reached.

Eighteen MPs, including three ministers, said they would not accept eviction of people from Mau Forest without prior compensation.

Roads minister Franklin Bett said there was no need for intimidation and threats in resolving the forest dispute.

“He is a minister and an MP like us. Let us respect each other,” said Mr Bett.

Agriculture minister William Ruto and his Youth and Sports counterpart Hellen Sambili also signed a statement by the 18 MPs calling for a “halt to intimidating statements from government”.

Environment assistant minister Jackson Kiptanui, Energy assistant minister Charles Keter and MPs Julius Kones, Magerer Lang’at and Joshua Kutuny told Mr Michuki to stop interfering with the Mau issue.

“Mr Michuki should know Mau is not like Mungiki. People must sit and agree,” said Mr Keter, referring to the banned group that the Kangema MP sought to wipe out when he was Internal Security minister.

On Monday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Rift Valley MPs agreed on evictions, on condition that there would be compensation.

The MPs said Mr Michuki should respect Mr Odinga who is coordinator and supervisor of government, and who had agreed that Mau settlers with title deeds would be paid and resettled in two years.