Families in left homeless after eviction from Mau Forest

More than 2,300 families are homeless after their houses were destroyed when they were evicted from the Mau Forest three weeks ago.

The evictees are currently living in three camps — Kipchoge, Olapa and Arorwet in Narok South Sub-County.

Two children, the evictees told the Nation, died last week as a result of the adverse weather conditions in the camps.

Eleven elderly people have been admitted to hospital after they contracted pneumonia, diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases.

The families’ spokesman, Mr Benard Sang, said Tekek, Arorwet, Mosop and Sebetet schools, alongside two churches in Tekek and Kipchoge villages, were demolished by officers from the Administration Police and Kenya Forest Service.

Yesterday, the evicted families accused County Commissioner Arthur Osiya of defying a presidential directive that their houses should not be torched.

“The commissioner visited the area a week after the presidential directive was issued and addressed a baraza at Kipchoge Trading Centre. He gave us a six-hour ultimatum to vacate our farms, after which a contingent of heavily armed security officers burnt our houses,” said Mr Sang.

“We expected the county commissioner to obey the presidential directive that there would be no forceful eviction of the people living in the Mau Complex and that the issue would be resolved amicably,” he added.

He said the torching of houses was still going on, with the affected families’ belongings being confiscated by the officers.

During a visit to the neighbouring Bomet County two weeks ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta said: “The issue relating to Mau will be sorted out by my government without it being politicised. I have discussed it with local leaders and we will deal with it humanely … torching of houses would not occur.” When a Nation team visited the area yesterday, it was clear that the order had been defied. Several houses had been razed by fire.