In what will spark a showdown between the government and William Ruto’s brigade, the government has announced that there will be no turning back on the second phase of evictions aimed at removing from Maasai Mau Forest of over 10,000 illegal settlers.
Already, it has shut down 15 schools set up in areas targeted in the second phase of evictions.
In a press briefing last week, Rift Valley regional commissioner George Natembeya said the schools are not government institutions and have been set up in the area illegally.
He pointed out that the 15 institutions have been benefiting from schools gazetted and legally established in the area.
The schools to be shutdown are Kirobon Centre, Senetwet Centre, Kapsilibwo Centre, Kitoben Centre, Indianit Centre, Kabarak Centre, Noosagami Centre, Chorwet Centre, Ogilge Centre, Sebetet Centre, Olabai Centre, Koitabai Centre, Chebirbelek Centre, Chebetet Centre and Lelechwet Centre.
According to Natembeya, none of the 15 schools has pupils expected to sit for national exams this year.
The evictions come after a steering committee was formed which recommended that 10,000 households in Maasai Mau Forest be removed.
He spoke in his office when he unveiled 10 members of the steering committee two days after some Rift Valley leaders opposed the impending eviction.
The leaders said 8000 school going children, including 1000 candidates, will suffer.
But the county commissioner warned politicians against politicising the matter. Natembeya also ruled out compensation to the people to be moved.
He said the people who feel aggrieved because they have title deeds should come forward with their documents for investigation. The government evicted 10,000 illegal settlers in phase one at Reiya group ranch.
Tobiko
The second phase consists of Nkoben, Ilmotiok and Ololunga. Others are Enokishomi, Enoosokon, Nkaroni and Sisian. Environment cabinet secretary Keriako Tobiko on July 25 announced plans to evict people from the forest which sparked a heated debate among Rift Valley leaders.
Some leaders met Raila Odinga in Nairobi and held consultations with Baringo senator Gideon Moi in Nakuru in a bid to stop the exercise.
MPs from the region met in Nakuru two weeks ago to discuss the issue and were expected to meet Tobiko to discuss the eviction further.
The government is targeting to reclaim 17,000 acres of land in the phase two of Mau Forest evictions and had given the affected families 60 days to vacate the area or be evicted.
A 10-member taskforce was also appointed to come up with an elaborate plan to ensure the second phase of the Mau eviction is done successfully.
It is chaired by Natembeya and comprises of members from the Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and Environment ministry.
The members include Joel Kitili (Environment ministry official), Marcus Ocholla (Rift Valley regional commander) and Samuel Kimiti (Narok county commissioner).
Top political leaders from the Kalenjin community have been protesting against the evictions, on grounds that if the exercise is allowed to proceed, schoolgoing children, including candidates set to sit their national exams at the end of the year, will suffer.
The meeting to map out strategies on the second phase of evictions was attended by high ranking officials from the National Police Service, the Kenya Forest Service, National Intelligence Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, ministry of Interior and Kenya Water Towers Agency.
But Kalenjin leaders have been strongly opposing the second Mau evictions, saying it will have negative impact to locals.
Led by Elgeiyo Marakwet and senate majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen, they said Tobiko has ignored their calls seeking to have an appointment with him.
Murkomen said over 10,000 primary school students will be affected by the looming eviction exercise.
He added that schools in the earmarked area for evictions have been registered by the government and have teachers deployed by the same government.
Kericho governor Paul Chepkwony, his Bomet counterpart Hilary Barchok and Mashinani party leader Isaac Ruto are among leaders who attended the Nakuru meeting that resolved to ask the state to halt the evictions.
Chepkwony had earlier indicated that eviction of Mau settlers will be a contempt of court pending hearing he had filed at the East African Court of Justice in Arusha, Tanzania.
Chepkwony also publicly raised the matter with Uhuru Kenyatta during the memorial service for Bomet governor Joyce Laboso and asked the president to intervene.
Ruto, the region’s political kingpin, is already walking a tightrope as he moves to firm up his 2022 presidential bid following fastchanging dynamics in Jubilee and Raila’s handshake with Uhuru.
The DP’s dilemma is whether to support the government’s environment conservation measures or sacrifice it at the altar of political expediency.
If he will not intervene to stop the evictions, he will be seen by his people to be a powerless DP and confirm fears of his whittling influence in the Jubilee government.
Natembea
Already, battlelines have been drawn between the Maasai and Kipsigis communities over the evictions at the country’s largest water tower.
While Maasai leaders have vowed to push for the evictions to conserve the Mau complex, their Kipsigis counterparts have warned against such a move without broader consultations.
Preempting the planned evictions, a section of Kipsigis leaders met Raila and reportedly asked him to reach out to Uhuru to stop the operation.
Former Bureti MP Franklin Bett said the planned evictions must be put on hold until the government strikes a longterm solution with the two communities.
The ex-minister said that the government must dialogue with the two communities and ask hard questions on who approved the sale of land inside the ranches.
Former Kuresoi MP Zakayo Cheruiyot, who also attended the meeting with Raila alongside Isaac, also warned against the planned evictions.
On his part, Isaac vowed to block any move by the government to evict people living in the forest.
The Chama Cha Mashinani party leader said the 2005 Hassan Noor task force report redesignating the forest cutline was not binding.
But Raila’s meeting with Kipsigis leaders put him in trouble with his Maasai backers.
ODM’s Narok North MP Moitalel Ole Kenta warned that if indeed Raila had accepted to broker a stoppage of the evictions, “then he has betrayed the Maasai community”.
He said the Maasai community in Narok has always stood with Raila for his stand to protect the Mau forest and asked the ex-PM to come clean on the alleged deal.
