Blow to Mau Forest evictees after court upholds removal
A three-judge bench yesterday dealt a big blow to over 500 people challenging their eviction from the Maasai Mau Forest.
High Court judges John Mutungi, Mohammad Kullow and George Ong’ondo sitting at the Narok environmental court declared the evictees had been occupying the forest illegally.
They also declared that the title deeds held by the evictees were illegally and fraudulently obtained and ordered the Ministry of Lands to declare them null and void.
In a unanimous decision, the three judges ruled out any compensation for the evictees saying the land was illegally acquired and public funds should not be used to finance illegality.
The judges also ordered respective government departments and the Narok County government to secure the forest by erecting a perimeter wall around it in the next 12 months.
Violation of law
The judges said the land title numbers, obtained from sub-divisions of five group ranches, Reiyo, Enakishomi, Sisiyian, Enoosokon and Nkaroni, were obtained illegally, unlawfully and without following procedure and in blatant violation of the law.
The petitioners' Joseph Kimetto and 598 others moved to the court during the first phase of the evictions in 2018, seeking orders to stop their eviction. They argued that the government did not issue them with an eviction notice and that they had no alternative homes and had school-going children, some of who were preparing for national examinations.
Justice Kullow said the Maasai Mau complex is a Trust Land under the county government of Narok and therefore no alienation can be done unless under the Trust Land Act. The evictees, the judge ruled, never followed due process. The titles acquired were therefore illegal and should be cancelled.
“The petitioners did not make any efforts to explain the process on which they increased the group ranches hence the titles were invalid,” said Kullow.
Appeal loading
The evictees’ lawyer Kimutai Bosek however vowed to appeal the judgment.
“We are far from satisfied with the decision of the court as it did not address a lot of issues and did not tell us how evictions should be carried out,” said Bosek.
But lawyers for the first and second interested parties Martin Kamwaro and Allan Meingati welcomed the judgment terming it a victory for the environment, the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, the Mara River and the population living along the Mara Basin and the Nile Basin.
In August 2019, the government announced plans to evict another 60,000 people from the forest. The authorities should ensure that police officials do not use unlawful force and should provide the residents with adequate notice and compensation as required under Kenyan and international law.
The evictions of people who have settled on forest land are an effort to save the Mau ecosystem, which the authorities say is threatened by ongoing encroachment, heavy deforestation, and illegal settlements. The recent evictions targeted people who have settled on Maasai Mau, a block of Mau forest managed by the Narok county government that is held in trust under the Mau Trust Land. The Kenya Forest Service manages another 21 blocks.
“In efforts to preserve Mau forest, the government has conducted evictions in an abusive, unlawful manner, and isn’t following its own guidelines,” said Otsieno Namwaya, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “While forest conservation goals are laudable, the way the government is carrying out the evictions raises serious human rights concerns.”
