All set for the eviction of Maasai Mau settlers

Settlers in Maasai Mau have been asked to prepare to leave.
A member of the Mau restoration interim coordinating secretariat told the Sunday Nation in Narok the legal team is finalising the verification of title deeds and other paper work for the Joint Enforcement Team to move in soon.

The team is composed of officers from the Kenya Forestry Service and Kenya Wildlife Services, Regular and Administration Police as well as askaris from the Narok County Council.

“The settlers should prepare themselves psychologically as the law will take its own course. There is no going back on this,” said Mr Francis Nkako, who is also the Managing Director of Ewaso Ngiro South Development Authority.

The authority’s mandate includes the restoration of the forest complex.

Mr Nkako spoke a day after the release of a task force report which sought to allay fears that the recovery of the country’s largest water tower was being dogged by politics.

The report said that the process of recovering 103,900 hectares of forest land that will see 3,359 families moved out is on course.

Some 1,680 parcels of land in the Maasai Mau section of the complex, valued at Sh2.4 billion are targeted for repossession to free 19,853 hectares for reforestation.

Before the reforestation starts, however, the forest’s boundaries will be marked by the Survey of Kenya with the guidance of the Narok county council and the local communities.

Mr Nkako said 2,000 third party purchasers will be compensated.

The official also refuted reports in the Saturday Nation that the task force recommended that all title deeds in Maasai Mau be revoked

He said at no time was the Maasai Mau properly adjudicated to allow for the selling of the parcels of land.