The government has defended the forceful eviction of hundreds of members of the endangeredSengwer community from Embobut forest in Elgeyo Marakwet County, accusingthem of degradingtheimportantwater tower.
The Ministry of Environment and Forestry on Tuesday maintained that the removal of more than 600 families from the forest complexwas aimedat protecting Cherangany water towers from furtherdegradation,due to unlawful logging,agricultural activities, andunregulated fencing of the forest land for commercial grazingand charcoal burning.
According to the North Rift Head of Conservancy, AnthonyMusyoka, thesquatterswere askedto voluntarily move out of the forest ahead of the operation.
Boda boda horror tales at hands of firms shock MPs Kindiki goes after political guns-for-hireThe squatters are involved in uncontrolled agricultural activities in the forestcausingmassive destruction to the ecosystem and destruction of the entire water towers, said Mr Musyoka.
He dismissed claims by the indigenous Sengwer community that the evictions contravened a Court of Appeal order issued in 2021, whichdirected maintenance of the status that no new persons should occupy the forestland.
The conservatory orderswere violatedby the Sengwer and Marakwet clans, whobegan trooping back to the forest in 2021 to secure forestglades,and further subdivide the forest into individual paddocks for commercial hiring, said Mr Musyoka.
The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) has deployed 170 forest protection and security personnel to carry out the one-month-long operation to forcefully evict members of the Sengwer community and othersquattersfrom the forestland.
The community members have written to Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Soipan Tuya, petitioningthe government to suspend the operation to allow dialogue onhow to resolvethe contentious matter.
The families, who are in makeshift camps in parts of Marakwet East Sub-County, have termed the repeated evictions as a disaster that has exposed them to a lack of shelter andfood, as well aspitiablehygienic conditions that are likely to result in an outbreak of infectious diseases.
These evictions have hit us hard during the rainy season and calamities caused by flash floods.We have nowhere to shelter after our homeswere razed down, foodstuff reduced to ashes, whilethe young and the elderlyare exposedto unhygienic conditions that will compromise their healthcare, said Paul K Kitum,Chairman of the Sengwer Council of Elders.
Embobut forest was declared a public forest in 1954andthegovernment has carried out repeated evictions to move out the indigenous community, who claimed a share of the forest and that they are the best protectors and conservators of the environment.
As an indigenous community, the government has failed to recognise our rights as true shareholders of these forests. We are being humiliated in ourownhomes despite being upright at protecting the environment, said Benjamin Chelimo, a father of 10 from Kipsitona village.
They are part of2,874squatters, who were given Sh410,000 each in 2013 to buy alternative land to settle on, but have encroached on the forest that forms part of the larger Cherangani Hills ecosystem, one of the countrys water towers.
Most of the Sengwer were left out of the compensation processandin anycasehow can one start a new life with the Sh410,000 away from the ancestral home, said Joseph Lopeta, one of the victims.
The governmentthroughKFShasin the pastcarried out a series of forceful evictions of squatters from Embobut forest.
Suspected bandits in 2019 burnt a KFS conservation station neighbouring Embobut Forest, which is part of the Cherangani water tower. The 12 KFS officersmanningthe station escaped unhurt during the protracted attack over the illegal occupation of the forest.
The community members have dismissed claims by KFS that they are involved inthe destruction ofthe public forest.
We are committed to working with KFS and relevant authorities to restore and protect Embobut forest. KFS shouldhoweverremove non-Sengwer, who haveencroachedinto our forest land and are carrying out destructive illegal activities, said Elias Kimaiyo, a human and environmental activist.
Kapyego ward Member of County Assembly, Joseph Loiwalan, called for dialogue in resolving the repeated evictions and conservation of the forest.
KFS needs to have dialogue with the Sengwer community in theconservation efforts of
