Mau settlers leaving the forest in July 2018. The relationship between
Kenya and AU is being tested after the Jubilee administration failed to
comply with an order to stop the eviction of 60,000 families who had
illegally settled in Mau forest. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The relationship between Kenya and the African Union (AU) is
being tested after the Jubilee administration failed to comply with an
order to stop the eviction of 60,000 families who had illegally settled
in Mau forest.
The African Commission on Human and
People’s Rights (ACHPR), an agency of the AU, has threatened to report
Nairobi at the next ordinary session of the AU commission.
The
commission had in November last year given the government 15 days to
stop the process pending hearing and determination of complaints filed
by the settlers.
The commission also ordered the
government to refrain from any action that could have interfered with or
threatened the rights of the settlers.
LETTER TO UHURU
In
an open letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the commission’s chairman
Solomon Ayele Dersso warned the government that the evictions were a
cause of concern and would constitute violation of the African Charter
as well as other regional and international human rights standards.
“I would like to assure you that the grant of this provisional
measure does not in any way affect any future decision of the commission
on the substance of our request,” Mr Dersso says in the letter dated
November 9, 2019.
The government not only refused to
respond to the order but on Thursday issued an edict, through Rift
Valley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya, warning the evictees
against buying land within a 10-kilometre radius of the forest.
HATCHED SCHEME
Mr
Natembeya claimed those buying land for the evictees had hatched a
scheme to undermine the government’s efforts to restore the forest.
“We
will not allow evictees to settle less than 10km from the forest
boundary so they can desist from the temptation to go back and carry on
with their activities before eviction,” he said.
In
September last year, the government gave the settlers a 60-day notice to
leave the water tower to pave the way for the restoration of the
complex.
The targeted area was land on which sits five
ranches that are believed to have been illegally extended. The land is
targeted for reclamation to restore the water tower that affects the
lives of about 10 million people.
Politicians from the Rift Valley had opposed the eviction, warning that some 8,000 school children would suffer.
SETTLE EVICTEES
They
bought land in Narok South sub-county, which is close to the forest, to
settle the evictees after the government ignored their calls to stop
the eviction.
The politicians had in December
identified some 68 acres in Tendwet, Sogoo and Ololulunga for temporary
resettlement of some of the 10,000 evicted families.
The land they bought is in Segemian (20 acres), Melelo (10), Ololulunga (15) and Sogoo (23) all along the forest.
In
their complaint, the affected families – through the Centre for
Comparative and International Law and the Institute for Human Rights and
Development in Africa – had expressed fear that they would suffer
irreparable damage if the eviction was carried out.
INVOKE RULE 98
The
families asked the commission to invoke Rule 98 and issue provisional
measures to prevent the eviction, arguing that it portends irreparable
harm to them should it be carried out.
The commission used three authorities to justify its order on suspension of the eviction.
They
included the Resolution on the Activities of the Human Rights of
Indigenous Communities in Kenya, which was adopted in February 2018, the
Resolution on the Indigenous Populations/Communities in Africa adopted
in 2016, and the Resolution on the Right to Adequate Housing and
Protection from Forced Evictions adopted in October 2012.
No comments :
Post a Comment