Mau payouts row holds evictions

Wrangling over compensation has delayed the second phase of Mau evictions targeting rich landowners. The exercise, which was to start early this month, is on hold because the government is yet to come up with an eviction plan.

“We are still consulting different levels of government and we will be making a major announcement soon,” the chairman of the Mau Rehabilitation Task Force, Mr Noor Hassan Noor, told the Nation on Thursday. And although Mr Noor said the Mau forest restoration was on course, he did not state when the second phase would start.

The second phase mainly targets Kanu-era power brokers, who Prime Minister Raila Odinga referred to as the “big fish” during his Jamhuri Day speech last year. The conservation of the critical water tower, which began as a noble conservation exercise has of late been dogged by politics, with members of the grand coalition taking partisan sides on the issue.

The eviction has also driven a wedge between Mr Odinga and his party deputy leader William Ruto. However, Mr Noor asked Kenyans to continue with the restoration by planting trees in their parcels of land and protecting water towers. “We have to continue planting trees and conserving our remaining forests,” he said.

But, other sources privy to the on-goings in government said that the delay had been occasioned by disagreements over the compensation of big landowners, who are accused of fraudulently allocating themselves parcels of land in the Mau.

“The decision on whether or not to compensate the so-called ‘big fish’ is still being discussed. How they should be compensated is also another problem,” a source in government, who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said.

Reacting to reports that the task of restoring the Mau might be transferred to the Kenya Wildlife Service, the conservator’s head of corporate communication, Ms Kenti Tikolo, said they had not been contacted by the relevant authorities. “We are yet to receive official communication transferring the responsibility to us,” Ms Tikolo said.

A proposal to pay Mau landlords billions of shillings, which is yet to be discussed by the Cabinet, drew sharp criticism from the public, who accused the government of abetting impunity.

Repair damage

A recent study by the United Nations Environment Programme revealed that payouts to big landowners would cost the taxpayer more than Sh2 billion. Repairing the damage inflicted on the Mau will cost the government Sh32 billion. So far, the government only has a paltry Sh4 million to kick-start the process.

Mau Forest is the largest indigenous forest in East Africa and Kenya’s most vital water tower, covering 400,000 hectares.