The last group of illegal settlers who had encroached on the
Maasai Mau Forest were Friday evicted as politicians from the Rift
Valley region braced themselves for a face-off with the government.
Environment
and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko led a multi-agency team
and wananchi in the restoration of Maasai Mau Forest in Sierra Leone
area after the lapse of a 60-day notice issued to the settlers.
A day earlier, politicians from the Rift Valley had termed the Mau evictions a humanitarian crisis.
PLANT TREES
Mr Tobiko launched an initiative to plant 10 million trees in the forest.
The
project – themed ‘Restore Mau, Save the Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem, Save
Lives’ — saw modern technology being used by the Kenya Forestry Research
Institute (Kefri) to sow 1.5 million seedlings, with an aircraft
employed for the aerial seeding.
Speaking at the event, Mr Tobiko said by Thursday, 96 per cent
exit of settlers had been achieved, with the government assisting the
remaining four per cent with tractors to move their belongings out.
Governors
Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu), Paul Chepkwony (Kericho), Stanley Kiptis
(Baringo), Senators Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho), Kipchumba Murkomen
(Elgeyo-Marakwet), Christopher Lang’at (Bomet) and a number of MPs from
the Rift Valley had appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta “to end the
suffering”.
POLITICS
Mr
Tobiko said the removal of the settlers was realised without the firing
of a single bullet or burning of houses and destruction of property.
“Planting
of trees in the Maasai Mau is historic. You all remember the sad
history of this forest for the past three decades,” he said.
He said the Mau forest had become a hot potato, and whenever efforts to reclaim it were made, politics stood in the way.
“The
hot potato is now buried and the Mau will never be a political issue to
be used by politicians during electioneering periods,” said Mr Tobiko.
He said the painful decision to evict the settlers was arrived at since the forest is gazetted as a water tower.
He
blamed MPs for lying to Kenyans that people are still in the forest.
“They have moved out and the hard part of restoring the forest has begun
today. We planted 200 trees manually and 1.5 million through aerial
means,” he said.
VIOLENCE
Mr
Tobiko dismissed claims that there is a humanitarian crisis, saying the
operation did not employ any violence. “I think there is a big
disconnect between politicians and [people on] the ground since the
settlers moved out voluntarily without any force. Nobody is living
outside in the cold,” the CS said.
He said fencing of
the forest will follow immediately the government secures funding for
60km out of the targeted 119 kilometres.
Leaders who
accompanied the CS, among them Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina and Narok
North MP Moitalel ole Kenta, lamented that rivers in the Mara, Lake
Victoria and the Nile basins, whose source is the forest, are drying up
with devastating effects to millions of people who depend on them.
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