Former squatters’ settlement hit by row over list

Resettlement of families evicted from a forest in the North Rift is likely to take a little longer than earlier anticipated.

The Ministry of Special Programmes was expected to give land to families that were flushed out of Embobut, Kipkurere and Mau forests but the exercise has stalled due to a row over the list of beneficiaries.

More than 15,000 squatters who were uprooted from Embobut Forest have threatened to move to court to stop the resettlement, claiming that some names were left out of the final list of beneficiaries. They claimed Sengwer and Kimaala communities were left out.

Original inhabitants

The two communities were hunters and gatherers and were the original inhabitants of Embobut Forest. They were uprooted from the water tower in 2009.

The squatters argued that the vetting of those evicted was not conducted in a fair manner and want the beneficiaries selected afresh.

“If the government fails to include those left out of the exercise, I have no choice but to commence the legal process,” Mr Kipchumba Murkomen, the squatter’s legal adviser, told the Nation.

He said the profiling of the families violated the principles of governance and public participation as contained in the Constitution.

A task force in charge of the settlement short-listed 2,964 names and forwarded them to the government for relocation. It is this list that the squatters want to be included.

This comes as the much awaited resettlement of 169 families evicted from the Mau Forest in Uasin Gishu County this week is postponed indefinitely by the Ministry of Special Programmes.

The families were scheduled to inhabit the controversial Chemusian Farm in Kipkabus, Eldoret East, on Monday but Regional Commissioner Wanyama Musiambo said the exercise was called off at the eleventh hour.

“The resettlement was cancelled a few days to the expected date without giving reasons. However, the ministry is expected to give an alternative date,” he said.

The move puts 173 squatters from Eldoret East Constituency and another 50 from Kipkurere Forest, which were to be settled on the land, in an awkward situation.

In 2009, the government bought the 1,040-acre piece to resettle evicted families from Embobut Forest.

The land was also to host internally displaced persons from several transit camps in Eldoret and Mawingu Camp in Nyandarua but the plan was shelved after the local community said that they were getting a raw deal.

They refused to host landless people from anywhere else apart from those who were bordering the land.

The land situated near Burnt Forest that was sold to the government three years ago is yet to be occupied due to constant wrangles.

Politics, lack of a proper resettlement formula and poor vetting of genuine squatters and IDPs are some of the major stumbling blocks hindering the resettlement.