Maasai elders welcome court judgement on Mau forest evictees
The Maasai Council of elders has welcomed the decision by Environment and Land’s Court (ELC) to keep the Maasai Mau forest free from any human settlement.
Led by their chairman Kelena Ole Nchoe, the elders said the forest is a great resource for the country that needs to be protected passionately by the government.
Ole Nchoe praised the courts for ruling against compensation to evictees from the state as they had earlier requested saying the evictees had illegally possessed the forest.
“The forest is a mega water catchment land that benefits many countries in the world. We should all come together to protect the forest,” he said, asking politicians to keep off from the forest agenda as the court had made a decision.
He reiterated that rivers flowing to the Maasai Mara game reserve that is home to the eighth wonder of the world originates from the Mau Forest observing the destruction of the forest could severely damage the Maasai Mara ecosystem.
The elders’ patron Joseph Ole Kaaria said the judgment was a landmark ruling that will go a long way in ensuring the ecosystem is protected even by the future generation.
“Since the judgement was made on Thursday, I have been sleeping very comfortably. We have been fighting for the conservation of the forest, not particularly because we did not like the people who were in the forest but because it was a total threat to the livelihood of many people who depend on the forest,” Karia said.
A three-judge bench sitting at the Narok Environment and Land Court (ELC) on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by over 40,000 evictees who had sued the state over what they termed as illegal and forceful evictions from their farms in the Mau Forest in 2018 and 2019.
The evictees wanted the court to declare the eviction exercise as illegal since all the affected persons had genuinely acquired title deeds from the Ministry of Lands.
Furthermore, they wanted the court to compel the state to conduct a fresh survey of the entire Mau Forest to satisfy there are no illegal settlers.
The three Environment and Land Court (ELC) judges who determined the case were: Justice Mohammed Kullow, Justice John Mutungi and Justice George Ong`ondo.
The evictees had named the Minister for Forestry, Environment and Natural Resources, Attorney General and the Minister for Interior as respondents in the case.
The judges revoked the title deeds created after the ballooning of five group ranches; Enoosokon, Enkaroni, Enoosaen, Enekishomi and Sisiyian saying they were null and void as the subdividing comprised part of the Maasai Mau forest.
However, the Senior counsel Kimutai Bosek who led the team of counsels appearing for the evictees expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling and vowed to appeal the case in Court of Appeal.
