Land Commission boss Swazuri orders State to stop eviction of forest dwellers

National Land Commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri on Friday ordered State agencies to stop evicting indigenous people living in their ancestral and forest lands.

Dr Swazuri described the order a "stop-gap measure", citing the expulsion of the Sengwer indigenous people from their ancestral lands in Embobut Forest as some of the evictions he wants stopped.

“I am appealing to the concerned state agencies to put to a stop any further evictions. I am also calling on the indigenous dwellers to stop any further transactions within the forest lands,” he said.

He was speaking at the Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha on the last day of a three-day consultative forum that brought together Kenya Forest Service officials and communities residing near forests.

The three-day dialogue, co-hosted by the Environment ministry and the National Land Commission (NLC) was meant to find solutions to land tenure and conservation issues.

AGE-OLD CONFLICTS

National Cohesion and Integration Commission commissioner Gitile Naituli blamed powerful individuals for the forest land woes in the country.

Prof Naituli cited the controversial Ngongongeri Farm, where some people fraudulently acquired huge tracts of land at the expense of deserving and desperate Kenyans.

“If we really want to address the illegal indigenous land occupation then we need to revoke all the allocations done in the early 1980s to the current date,” said Mr Naituli  

Dr Swazuri said the commission is looking at long-term measures aimed at addressing the age-old conflicts between government agencies and indigenous land settlers.

“We want a truce before the concerned parties reach an agreement with a consortium of all the concerned government entities,” he said.

The NLC chairman said it seeks to harmonise the work of all the State agencies including the Kenya Forest Service and the Kenya Wildlife Service, which have conflicting mandates in resolving forest land issues.

'UNFAIR' TREATMENT

Some members of the Sengwer community present at the forum praised the NLC decision but called for quick solutions to the land problem.

Led by Paul Kiptuka, the indigenous community members accused the government of harassing them instead of focusing on the real culprits behind the destruction of the water towers.

“We are victims of circumstances and a majority of us have lived in the Embobut Forest for ages without causing wanton destruction,” claimed Mr Kiptuka.

Another member of the community, Dickson Rotich, said they have been unfairly treated by the government and have never been given a fair hearing since the evictions started.

He said though they have been invited to several forums, their input has been ignored, with the government keen on uprooting them from their ancestral dwellings.

(Editing by Joel Muinde and Henry Gekonde)