Leaders gang up against Ruto over evictions

The political row between Deputy President William Ruto and a section of Rift Valley leaders is escalating, following evictions of settlers in Olpusimoru Forest in Maasai Mau, Narok County.

Last week, Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto and Kuresoi South MP Zakayo Cheruiyot demanded that the DP intervenes to have the evictions by Kenya Forest Service (KFS) suspended.

Speaking on telephone yesterday, Mr Cheruiyot said no more forcible removal of settlers from the forest should be carried out before resettlement of families ejected from Mau Forest Complex in 2009.

“I urged the government to involve leaders in counties where evictees were still in transitional camps, or those they claim are still in forests, instead of turning against its own citizens,” said Mr Cheruiyot.

Some evictees who have been spending nights in the cold expressed fears of their children falling sick due to the current wet weather in the area.

Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto hit out at the government over the manner in which it was evicting families from Mau Forest. He said the eviction mirrored the happenings in 2005 when schools, hospitals and houses were razed.

“As much as we support efforts to conserve the water tower, we should ensure that families are compensated and evictions carried out humanely,” he said.
The Council of Governors chairman made the remarks in Chesoen in Bomet East constituency during the burial of Mr Richard Kenduiywo. He termed the evictions barbaric.
Pundits say the evictions could constitute a key political agenda in the 2017 elections.

But contacted for comment, Narok County Commissioner Arthur Osiya, who is said to have ordered the fresh evictions, said the affected group voluntarily moved out of the forest after the government set up security camps between gazetted forests and settlement schemes.

FELLING TREES

He said the government deployed a joint security team of 70 officers to deter fresh encroachment.
Mr Osiya, who toured the forest last week, said the settlers had been felling indigenous trees for timber and charcoal. He lamented that the fresh encroachment on Mau Complex was threatening wildlife in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, adding that, according to scientists, it is the cause of perennial floods in Narok which claimed 15 lives last week.

“These floods occur due to human manipulation of watersheds, drainage basins and flood plains. They have occurred in river basins even with normal rains because of excess surface water runoff occasioned by deforestation and land degradation upstream,” said Mr Osiya while briefing the Press on the Narok floods two days ago.

He said illegal settlers had been cultivating forest land and threatening the survival of wildlife and people who depend on the Mara River, destroying the forest cover.
He said the settlers had recently been moving back to Olpusimoru Forest — a section of the Maasai Mau — with the intention of benefiting from the government’s compensation scheme.

Narok County Kenya Forest Services eco-system conservator James Mburu denied claims that KFS officers were burning houses, accusing the settlers who moved out of torching their own homes to attract sympathy.

“These houses were burnt only after certain leaders toured the area, or when the media was there. What does that signify?” posed Mr Mburu.

He said KFS had already demarcated boundaries of government gazetted forests and the intention is to create a “tea” buffer zone around the forest to protect it from encroachment.

“The government is going to rid Mau Forest — which is an important water tower in the country — of settlers. The tea bushes along the boundaries will deter future encroachment and help in forest management,” he said.