Nairobi — The government on Monday declared that big land owners in Mau Forest will not get a cent in compensation, after all.

Prominent Moi-era figures own thousands of acres in the forest, Kenya's leading source of water, which has been extensively destroyed.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday dashed hopes of payouts to the big shots, who include former President Daniel arap Moi, and said the government was only working on resettling the people evicted from the Mau last month.

"We at the Treasury and the Ministry of Forestry can categorically state that there has never been any discussion of any nature with any individual or company for compensation of any kind," Mr Kenyatta said.

The deputy PM, who is also the Finance minister, had called a press conference in his Treasury office over reports that the government was planning to compensate the so-called Big Fish who were allocated land in the forest.

Our sister newspaper, Sunday Nation this week reported land value-based estimates of what Mr Moi, his former private secretary Joshua Kulei, businessman Hosea Kiplagat and Kanu vice-chairman Gideon Moi would be paid as compensation on the bases of their land holdings.

The total cost to the taxpayer will be Sh2 billion.

It also quoted government sources as saying that the big land owners would be paid.

The estimates are calculated by the United Nations Environment Programme.

On Monday, Mr Kenyatta, who was accompanied by Forestry and Wildlife minister Noah Wekesa, said the Mau was being handled by a secretariat based in the office of Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Consulted widely

The ministries of Lands, Special Programmes and Internal Security are also involved in the secretariat headed by former provincial commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan.

Before reading his statement, Mr Kenyatta said he consulted widely to ensure that what he communicated was correct.

"They (Mau Secretariat) have not informed us of any plans to compensate the Mau settlers," he said.

The first batch of settlers was evicted from the Mau last month and the government is gearing up for the second phase that targets the biggest beneficiaries of the land allocations.

Those evicted, Mr Odinga has said, are only the small fish; those who will follow are the big names.

Last week, the PM said the government will not relent in its efforts, and prominent people would be kicked out of the forest complex in spite of the attempts they were making to block the evictions.

On Monday, Mr Kenyatta appeared to confirm reports that plans were afoot to resettle the people who were evicted from 19,000 hectares in south-western Mau.

"The government is trying to find alternative land for these people," he said.

The government wants to rehabilitate the forest by planting trees to restore its degraded ecosystem.

In an amendment to a motion adopting the task force report on the Mau, Parliament appeared to have bound the government to pay large land holders.

It required the government to follow the law in the evictions, especially the sections which make it illegal to dispossess people of their land without compensation.

But it remains to be seen whether that law applies to land which, though with a title deed, was acquired irregularly.

The amendment was brought amid claims Mr Kenyatta's allies struck a deal with those of Agriculture counterpart William Ruto to block the adoption of the report in exchange for supporting the reappointment of former Kenya Anti Corruption Commission chief Aaron Ringera.

The minister for Environment, Mr John Michuki, referred to the rumoured pact on the floor of the House when he said: "We have gone too low in the way we value issues. If the Ringera issue is more important than that of Mau Forest, and people are trading the Ringera issue with that of Mau, I must confess that I am ashamed to be in this Bunge."

The Land Acquisition Act, Cap.295 says: "Where land is acquired compulsorily under this part, free compensation shall be paid promptly to all persons interested in the land."

After the motion was passed, Unep officials prepared a valuation report for the Mau secretariat, a copy of which was obtained by the Sunday Nation.