Lands team investigates settlement
The commandant of the Kenya Forest Service Inspectorate unit Mr John Kimani and security agents during an eviction drive to get people out of Marmanet government forest in Laikipia West district. The National Land Commission has started investigating how people were allocated about 20,000 acres of the Marmanet forest in Baringo County. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Those who were displaced by Kirandich Dam claim they should have been resettled in Mochongoi Settlement Scheme, which was hived off Ol Arabal and Kamailel forests.
- The forests are part of the larger Marmanet ecosystem that extends to Baringo and Laikipia counties.
The National Land Commission has started investigating how people were allocated about 20,000 acres of the Marmanet forest in Baringo County.
Two commissioners have been sent to the ground to gather information, which is hoped would reveal the identity of absentee landlords whose large chunks of land have remained undeveloped for 20 years.
Those who were displaced by Kirandich Dam claim they should have been resettled in Mochongoi Settlement Scheme, which was hived off Ol Arabal and Kamailel forests.
The forests are part of the larger Marmanet ecosystem that extends to Baringo and Laikipia counties.
Although schools and churches have been built on the scheme, the occupation is illegal since the forest land was not de-gazetted.
The scheme is divided into three phases. Mochongoi Block 107, which was initially divided into 1,411 plots of five acres each, is phase one. Companies allocated land in the scheme include Scoop, Yellow Book and Wince.
Phase two is Kamailel Block 110, which is 4,400 acres, with 550 plots. Beneficiaries here included Thomson Falls Plantation (25 acres) Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (56 acres) and Baringo Farmers Training Centre (68 acres).
