Nairobi — With exactly a week to go before a deadline for those settled in a section of the Mau Forest complex expires, thousands of anxious settlers are grappling with the inevitability of eviction.
A two-pronged move in the past week has cleared any lingering doubts as to the government's determination to get the settlers out and have the much-anticipated restoration work began.
On Monday last week the Kenya Forest Service gave settlers fourteen days to leave Saino, Korao, Ndoinet, Tinet, Kiptagich and Kiptagich Extension settlements schemes in South Western Mau to pave way for conservation.
Three days earlier the Interim Coordinating Secretariat on the Mau, the team charged with guiding the whole process, had set the ball rolling with a clear programme of action that would see parts of Eastern Mau and South Western Mau repossessed in the next one month.
But even as things seem to get going finally, a litmus test still awaits it in the form of whether the targeted settlers will heed its notice and vacate the forest to pave way for restoration.
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Signs that a challenge still lies ahead have been betrayed by the reluctance that has greeted a request by the secretariat over two weeks, asking the settlers to start handing in their title deeds at any of the fourteen centres in districts surrounding the forest complex.
Only a handful of titles deeds have been volunteered, and it remains to be seen what action the government will take should the settlers stay put as most of them have vowed.
To complicate things, further the state appears to have limited its options when it declared that forceful eviction of settlers was not in its plans.
According to Mr Hassan Noor Hassan, the secretariat boss, force would not be employed in having people move out or surrender titles, saying persuasion was the best option in the whole undertaking.
"We do not anticipate use of force; it's not part of our thinking. We have made an appeal to them so that they surrender the titles and move out as a gesture of patriotism and goodwill," he said at a recent press briefing in Nakuru on the Mau issue.
A Nation team that visited some of the settlements this week came across settlers verging on panic but still vowing to stay put.
They said they had nowhere to go and accused the government of issuing conflicting signals over the Mau issue.
They demanded that the government halt the process until a proper mechanism to relocate them was in place and issues of compensation worked out.
"Our fathers, grandfathers were buried here. Where are you telling us to go?" said Mr Kelele Tuimising, 47, who says he reads sinister motives in the eviction order.
He said that they were not ready to leave their homes and other properties to a place they are not sure that they will enjoy the same benefits as they in the agriculturally rich Mau area.
According to Mr Tuimising, he cannot contemplate pulling down his house and other structures in the farm "and moving out to the camps like IDPs."
Mr Regina Kiptarayia, 52, a resident of Kiptunga argued that the notice has taken the settlers by surprise but they are not yet ready to surrender the land back to the government.
Mrs Kiptarayiat says her family and others in the area have been in the forest from time immemorial. The Kibaki government moved in 2005 and issued them with title deeds, officially recognising them as legal owners of the land.
"What has changed in the same government that was singing a different song in 2005 and now singing a different one now, we don't understand," she said.
Mr Nahashon Kiptoo of Korao Farm in Kuresoi district feels that the notice was a political instigation by some powerful individuals in the coalition government to punish members of one community.
"The notice is instigated by some politicians in this government who are trying to settle their differences in expense of the local mwananchi and we will not move out," he said.
Mr Kiptoo said the notice is uncalled for, wondering where they will do with their crops that are yet to mature and their children who are either doing exams or waiting for the exams.
Mr Kiptoo said that he had been duped by powerful individuals in KANU regime who moved them from the equally ill-fated Kiptagich extension and told them to occupy any portion of land he wished in Tinet forest and would be issued with ownership documents.
He said he moved in with his family of five and carved out a piece of land in the forest and the notice will affect his family lives since they were born in the forest 32 years ago.
At Korao, another settlement scheme affected by the notice, a local leader, Mr William Keror wondered: "If President Mwai Kibaki gave us title deeds in 2005 why then are we being told to leave, what has made out settlement illegal all of a sudden," he posed.
He said it was impossible for the settlers to leave their crop and disrupt the education of their children especially those sitting for their final primary and secondary education examinations.
Mr Keror described the notice signed by KFS director was not humane and that the settlers would treat it with the contempt it deserved.
Mrs Tapelkat Ng'etich, of Kiptagich in Kuresoi said the residents were ready to die rather than leave the forest voluntarily.
She blamed the government for causing their problems by allocating illegal loggers and multinationals part of the forest.
Similarly vowing to stay put are members of the Ogiek community who insist they have been residents of the forest and have no livelihood outside it.
Mr Paul Gugo Leswakei, a resident of Kiptunga forest said the community has always depended on the forest and its resources and removing them would greatly interfere with their livelihood linked to hunting and gathering.
At Kiptagich, a village elder Mr David Sitienei said those being targeted are holders of title deeds. "It was agreed that they will be removed but first they must be compensated," he said.
"They must be given an alternative land by the government because they acquired their land legally," he added.
As if anticipating a negative response, the government has followed up the notice with a visit by top officials to reassure the residents that their interested would be taken care of and that they would not be forcefully evicted.
Forestry minister Noah Wekesa who visited Kiptunga forest on Wednesday together with three other ministers: Franklin Bett(Roads), John Munyes(Labour) Paul Otuoma (Fisheries) and assistant minister Josphat Nanok(Forestry), assured the settlers that they will not be forcibly removed from the land they occupy.
The minister said that the eviction process is a long process that involves enlightening the villages on the need to vacate the Mau for rehabilitation. "You will not be pushed out like criminals," he said.
Roads minister Franklin Bett urged the settlers to stay put until their interests are fully catered by the government. He said that the law must be followed to the letter.
In the programme released by the secretariat, illegally excised but uninhabited land in Likia and Mariashoni areas of Eastern Mau Forest Complex will be the first to be returned to the government followed by South Western Mau where some 19,000 hectares are occupied by squatters. This is to be done by the first week of December.
The third, fourth and fifth phases of the programme will deal with settlers who hold genuine titles to the portions of land they occupied across the complex.
Due to the sensitive issue of sanctity of title deeds, the matter has been handed over to a team of legal experts who will guide the secretariat and government on how to repossess the land and work out the details pertaining to compensation.
"This is an area that requires closer attention as we are dealing with the issue of the sanctity of the titles," Secretariat chairman Hassan Noor Hassan revealed at a recent briefing in Nakuru town.
Once every area is cleared of settlers, surveyors will move in to demarcate boundaries of the critical catchment areas to prevent future encroachment.
Mr Noor further revealed that a Joint Enforcement Unit has been established since July last year bringing together some 182 personnel from Kenya Wildlife Service, KFS, Administration Police and Narok County Council askaris to prevent any further encroachment and to deal with illegal loggers and charcoal burning. They are backed by a KWS helicopter
An additional 250 rangers are to be deployed on the ground to enhance patrols across the complex once settlers are all out and the restoration work started.
In the report compiled by the Prime Minister's Task Force of Mau, Likia is listed as having been sub-divided into 1395 parcels and Mariashoni, some 2,851 parcels.
Whereas Mariashoni was initially earmarked for the settlement of the Ogiek Community, this intention was not met and vast tracks of land ended up being given to some 300 beneficiaries - mostly prominent individuals and companies.
Mariashoni is listed as one of the most critical water catchment areas within the Mau Complex, and is source of Molo, Mau, Nyongores and Baraget rivers.
Likia on the other hand was not meant for any settlement but was nonetheless invaded and shared out. However, glaring inconsistencies in the land register and the green renders determination of the exact number of beneficiaries almost impossible.
In South Western Mau, Saino settlement has 2,667 parcels; Korao (1,231); Ndoinet (1,521); Tinet-Kabongoi (2,202); Tinet-Sotiki(3,385) and Kiptagich Extension B (429).
All these irregularities sprung from the 2001 forest excision when on October 19, 2001 the government excised 61,586 hectares of forest in the seven blocks of the Mau Forest complex that also include Molo, Mount Londiani, Nabkoi, Northern Tinderet and Western Mau. Out of the 27,523 parcels created then in these blocks, only 18,649 are titled.
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