Court dismisses forest evictees’ payout case
What you need to know:
- The 1,942 IDPs moved to the High Court in Eldoret early last year stating that despite being genuine forest evictees, they had been left out of a government-funded compensation programme
A group of internally displaced persons has lost a case in which they sought compensation for being thrown out of a forest.
The 1,942 people moved to the High Court in Eldoret early last year stating that despite being genuine forest evictees, they had been left out of a government-funded compensation programme.
Early this year, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning compensated 1,192 people.
PAYMENT ORDER
The people had been evicted from Kipkurere forest despite a court order blocking the National Bank of Kenya from paying them.
In his ruling before a packed courtroom on Wednesday, Mr Justice Sila Munyao said that he was dismissing the case on grounds that the National Bank had already paid the 1,192 evictees at the time the court was issuing the order.
Last month, the court absolved the National Bank of Kenya from blame in the case after the bank’s lawyer, Mr Josephat Maina Mburu, provided details of when the money was paid to the forest evictees and the payment method.
