Kibaki and Raila hold talks on Mau eviction

• Meeting comes in the wake of criticism by religious leaders and Rift Valley MPs

The eviction of squatters from the Mau Forest was top on the agenda of the weekly meeting between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Tuesday.

The two met for an hour and a half amid rising opposition to the eviction of settlers in Kenya’s most important water source.

An Office of the President official said the leaders met in private and he did not know what was resolved but that there has “been no shift in government policy on the Mau”.

Agreement reached

Sources in the Prime Minister’s office said an agreement was reached that the evictions were to continue, despite the opposition from Rift Valley MPs.

The sources, who did not wish to be named disclosing the details about the private high-level meeting, also said that the transportation of squatters from temporary camps be suspended until the Cabinet agreed on how this was going to be done.

The PM, who has been leading the government to conserve the Mau, has come under pressure from his Rift Valley allies, who accuse him of exposing their constituents to inhuman conditions in roadside camps.

The critics, who include Cabinet ministers William Ruto and Franklin Bett, accuse the government of going back on its promise to resettle evictees.

The settlers, who have been asked to move out of the Mau, are illegal squatters and have no documents to prove land ownership.

Bandwagon

Opposition to the evictions by local leaders has been intensifying, with the latest to join the bandwagon being Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey, one of the PM’s key allies in Rift Valley.

The sources said the government was concerned that even religious leaders, among them John Cardinal Njue of the Catholic Church and several Anglican bishops, had joined those criticising the manner in which the evictions were being carried out.

There are also fears within the government that the camps being put up by the evicted settlers would cause a humanitarian crisis, which might attract protests from human rights groups and the international community.

The sources said that Mr Odinga was concerned that all the criticism was being directed at him yet the move to rehabilitate the forest was a government decision. The principals’ meeting started at 11am and ended at 12.30pm.

The two leaders met alone for an hour before calling in Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and Office of the PM permanent secretary Mohamed Isahakiah.

Mr Muthaura and Dr Isahakiah later went into a meeting with Special Programmes PS Ali Mohamed to work out ways of handling the evictions.

They were expected to issue a statement declaring the government’s determination to go on with the evictions and new guidelines to be followed in the process.

First phase