Bernard Gitau and Irene Mwambura @PeopleDailyKe
Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko now wants the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to charge ranchers who have grabbed at least 35,000 acres in Maasai Mau Forest.
He said people who illegally obtained forest land have resorted to ethnic politics as the water tower continues to be depleted.
Just papers
“I have written to DPP to institute arrest and prosecution of owners, most of who are members of the Maasai and Kalenjin communities, of the ranches who grabbed more than 35,000 acres of the forest,” he said.
“The title deeds held by the ranchers and other settlers Maasai Mau are just papers. Evictions from the forest must continue,” he said.
Speaking in Nairobi during the official launch of Kenya Water Towers Agency Board members yesterday, Tobiko vowed not to be intimidated by political leaders and hiding behind their tribes to thwart the eviction and reclamation process of the land grabbed.
“I do not care about those claiming Maasai are targeting Kalenjins and vice versa in the Mau Forest conservation drive. We cannot afford to politicise or whip tribal emotions on environmental conservation matters,” said the CS.
Extend boundaries
Tobiko revealed that the illegal settlements in the forest dates back to the 1970s, when the government released five adjudication sections in the north of Olpusimoru and Maasai Mau forest.
He said the ranchers applied for consent from the local land control board to subdivide their land, but they extended boundaries of their initial acreage. Affected areas include Olposimoru A and B, Kamurar, Kilapa and Olkurto.
Since last year, Tobiko has been under criticism by South Rift MPs, who accuse him of sanctioning ‘biased’ evictions from Mau. The MPs claimed the evictions target genuine land owners.
In response, Maasai leaders called on the government to evict the remaining 40,000 settlers living within the water tower.
A past Kenya Water Towers Agency report indicates that when verification of landowners was done in 2009, only 430 settlers in the area had genuine title deeds. The emotive matter has even been the subject of deadly clashes.
