County accused of allowing settlers back to Mau

A section of Mau Forest. Tension is high in Narok North sub-county after two herders were shot dead by an armed militia in the controversial Maasai Mau forest on Wednesday night. FILE PHOTO |

What you need to know:

  • The campaign to restore the Mau ecosystem began in 2008 when then Prime Minister Raila Odinga was given the task of saving the water tower. He set up a taskforce that became the Kenya Water Tower Agency.
  • Security officials had also raised the alarm over settlers trooping back to the forest. They blamed the local politicians.

The Kenya Forest Service has raised the alarm on the degradation of 28,000 hectare of the Maasai Mau section of the Mau Complex, blaming it on the Narok county government.

KFS deputy director in charge of forest conservation and management Esau Omollo was shocked when he led a team on a tour of the forest.

He said at the weekend that KFS had the mandate to take over any forest in the country if it is found that it is being mismanaged.

“KFS has a legal window of taking over any forest in the country if an entity entrusted to conserve and protect it has failed,” Mr Omollo said.

Maasai Mau Forest, which is under the jurisdiction of Narok County government, has for the last one year been encroached by farmers, loggers and charcoal burners who have frustrated efforts by the Kenya Water Tower Agency to reclaim it.

The campaign to restore the Mau ecosystem began in 2008 when then Prime Minister Raila Odinga was given the task of saving the water tower. He set up a taskforce that became the Kenya Water Tower Agency.

The agency had succeeded in flushing out settlers out of the forest.

However, the county government has been accused to allowing the settlers to troop back into the forest.

Mr Omollo claimed the county had failed to protect the section under its jurisdiction, yet it has the capacity to do so and asked the national government to take over its management to forestall what he termed as the ecosystem’s imminent depletion.

Security officials had also raised the alarm over settlers trooping back to the forest. They blamed the local politicians.

Last week, the security committee, whose members are county commissioner Farah Kassim, KFS and Kenya Wildlife Service accused politicians of pushing the invasion.

KFS has began drawing boundaries under its jurisdiction to prevent further encroachment and warned squatters found inside after the exercise that they will be evicted.