Mau: 103,000ha to be recovered

Some 103,900 hectares of forest land will be recovered once the five phases of the Mau complex rehabilitation programme are completed.

A report released by the Mau taskforce interim coordinating secretariat says the exercise, expected to go beyond March, this year, will also see 3,359 families moved out. Among the forest land earmarked for repossession are south-western Mau — 19,000ha; Maasai Mau — 20,400ha, East Mau — 30,800ha and Ol Pasimoru — 3,270ha.

The report’s release comes after it was revealed that wrangles over compensation was delaying the repossession of land owned by title-holders, among them powerful people in the Kanu era, who irregularly allocated themselves forest land.

In his New Year speech, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the next phase of the Mau rehabilitation would focus on the big fish (rich landowners) who had allocated themselves chunks of the Mau forest land irregularly.

However, the much anticipated phase has been dogged by politics, delaying its implementation. According to the document, the reclaiming of the water tower has moved to the third phase, which focuses on the Maasai-Mau trust land.

“In light of the importance of the Maasai-Mau trust land forest as a water catchment area and the irregularities that have led to extensive destruction of that forest, the Mau taskforce recommended that all title deeds in the Maasai-Mau forest be revoked,” the progress report says.

Some 1,680 parcels of land in the Maasai-Mau section, valued at Sh2.4 billion, are targeted for repossession to free 19,853ha for reforestation. Before the repossession starts, the document says, a survey to mark the forest boundary will be done by the Survey of Kenya, with the guidance of the Narok county council and local communities.

Next phase

However, the document proposes that only third-party buyers be compensated. It maintains that first buyers, whether individuals or companies, will not be reimbursed any money.

The proposal contravenes the stand taken by Rift Valley MPs, led by Agriculture minister William Ruto, who insist that all title holders, irrespective of how they acquired the land, be compensated, a stand that has incensed some MPs and the public.

The committee laments that, although repossession 19,000ha in South-western Mau had been successful, squatters refused to return to their original homes after some MPs demanded that they be resettled or compensated.

“This is not provided for in the taskforce report as it would create a precedent that would encourage people to invade government land and provide also a basis for squatters removed from forests, road reserves and national reserves in the past to make a claim for compensation,” the report says. The illegal squatters are currently living at nine makeshift camps along the boundary of the south-western Mau forest reserve.

Number of houses

“The number of houses counted in the forest by the Kenya Forest Service during the relocation operations are 1,635, which is consistent with the estimate from the aerial point sampling,” the document notes. “However, the number of families that registered at the camps during the profiling process was in excess of 5,000.

“It appeared that many residents of the areas have been incited to come to the camps.” It says that the scenario forced the provincial administration and the interim coordinating secretariat to conduct a careful verification of the profiling lists, reducing the number of squatters from over 5,000 to 2,000 families. The committee reiterated the repossession of land will be done in an orderly, lawful and systematic manner.