Kibaki and Raila hold talks on Mau eviction

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

In Mau, there were fears that political interference would delay the completion of the first phase of the evictions, particularly after the transportation of the evictees was put on hold, awaiting a Cabinet decision.

The Cabinet is unlikely to meet this and next week because the President will be away for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in the Caribbean.

Additionally, the government is facing mounting costs for food and humanitarian aid, which it had not planned for.

Kuresoi district commissioner Cyrus Gatobu confirmed that the movement of squatters out of the camps had been put on hold.

“The political war over the Mau issue might delay the exercise for unknown time, we are now waiting for further instructions from the top leadership,” he said.

The Kenya Road Cross Regional representative Patric Nyongesa said delay in moving the settlers out of camps might result in a humanitarian crisis.

There was danger of disease outbreaks, he warned, adding that the extreme cold weather was causing pneumonia in women and children.

The Red Cross has offered help to 2,558 households in the nine camps giving them non-food items and tents for shelter.

The camps are filthy because of a lack of toilets, he said. Many of the squatters have been evicted before and seem confident that buying some time may see them back in the forest.

The presence of the combined security team from the Kenya Forest Service, the Kenya Wildlife Service and regular and Administration Police was enough to get them out of the 19,000-hectare part of the forest.

But they have shown no sign of leaving the peripheries of the forest, hoping that the political will to kick them out will eventually dissipate and they can go back.

According to Mr Joseph Koech from Kapkembu camp, nobody will board the government lorries. Though they are recently settled in the forest, they claim they have nowhere to go.

They were also said to have agreed that all Cabinet ministers, even those from Rift Valley who were opposed to the manner of evictions, have to support the programme.

Cabinet ministers Ruto (Agriculture), Bett (Roads) and Kosgey (Industrialisation) have come out to oppose the manner of evictions, in particular the failure to find alternative land for the settlers.

Mr Ruto has come out strongly and stated that a government that drives people from their homes to camps without food, shelter and a livelihood has no business being in leadership.

He has also taken on Mr Odinga and declared that he does not deserve the leadership position he holds for accusing leaders concerned about the welfare of the squatters as people shedding crocodile issues.

The meeting also expressed concern about the millions of shillings being collected by a vernacular radio station, the ultimatums that was issued by Rift Valley MPs to re-invade the forest, and the tension that had been caused by the death of a woman at a makeshift camp.