James Kariuki
27 July 2009
Nairobi — The Kenyan Government will evict about 400 peasant farmers in Marmanet Forest of Laikipia West District.
A case, in which the farmers had sought to block the eviction, was struck out for lack of merit since they had no title deeds.
In his ruling, Mr Justice David Maraga observed that only farmers who were allocated land in a 2,800-hectare degazetted land would be spared while the rest would be evicted.
The judge observed that while 404 peasant farmers were affected, only 40 title deeds were presented to the court as exhibits. He said most of the applicants never made any effort to prove they were genuine title deed holders.
The applicants, among them Nyahururu Deputy Mayor Irene Wacuka, had moved to court seeking to have eviction notice issued by Laikipia West District Forest Officer Samwel Mukundi quashed and a permanent injunction be imposed requiring the government to respect the sanctity of title deeds.
The government's stand has consequently been strengthened by local leaders who have also sanctioned ejection of the peasant farmers. The leaders said the peasant farmers' stay in the forest had adversely affected the catchment area.
Dried up
The leaders said streams and rivers in the area had dried up due to increased human activities in the catchment area.
In a meeting addressed by Laikipia West MP Ndiritu Muriithi and Nyahururu Mayor Peter Thiari, the leaders said forest conservation must be given priority.
Sources at Kenya Forest Service headquarters who spoke on condition of anonymity told Nation that farmers who had cleared and occupied 10,000 hectares of government forest would be evicted soon.
KFS directors also visited the cleared sections and warned the squatters that they would be forcefully ejected if they fail to leave voluntarily.
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