OGIEK EVICTION ALERTS

OGIEK EVICTION ALERTS

Updates:

Update: 09.06.2005

Update: 10.06.2005

Update: 12.06.2005

Update: 15.06.2005

Update: 16.06.2005 

Update: 17.06.2005

Update: 18.06.2005

Update: 19.06.2005

Update: 20.06.2005

Update: 23.06.2005

Update: 28.06.2005

Update: 06.07.2005

Update: 12.07.2005

Update: 12.07.2005

Open Letter to Security Minister

OGIEK RURAL INTEGRAL PROJECTS (ORIP)

                                                                                                      Date: 12^th July 2005

THE HON MINISTER,
INTERNAL SECURITY,
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT,
P.O BOX,
NAIROBI.

Dear Sir,

RE: EVICTIONS IN THE MAU FOREST

I am writing to you on behalf of the Ogiek people living in the Mau forest complex and who are the original indigenous peoples of the Mau forest.

The Hon. Minister, for over a thousand years, the Ogiek people lived in the Mau forest complex and for all these years the forest remained intact. During the colonial period, the British flashed out the Ogiek people in the highland forest of the Mau with no success and legally under the carter land commission of 1933 denied them the right of ownership to their ancestral land, the Mau forest. The succeeding post colonial regimes did not address the Ogiek land issues with the aim of giving legal recognition to their aboriginal title to the Mau forest as their ancestral territory. What the postcolonial regimes did instead was to expropriate Ogiek land to the High and Mighty mainstream communities of this country. To date, the Ogiek still wonder whether they are citizens of this country or from Mars.

The Ogiek are conservationists by nature as their survival depended on nature and they protected the environment. However, today we see these poor people thrown out of their homes at will by succeeding governments without considering their plight as a hunter-gatherer community. It goes without saying that they are suffering because Democracy in Kenya is all about numbers and hence we don't matter anyway.

The non - inclusion of the Ogiek in the on-going evictions in Narok District is a clear indication that our fundamental rights are taken for granted since every action taken has got political connotation.

The trust land under the Narok County Council is held in trust for the people. If the trust land have been invaded what about the original inhabitants? Have you Mr. Minister heard of these people called the Ogiek? And do you care to know?

We maintain as a community that the Mau forest complex as a whole must be protected for the good of the country and even the neighbouring countries, but we must also respect the rights of those indigenous peoples living in this forest and find a lasting solution to their land problems.
We are thus asking you and your counterpart in the Ministry of land to include the Ogiek in the committee formed to look into the trust land issue in Narok District. 

We believe we are Kenyans despite our minority status and expect a democratic government to treat her citizens equally. We do not of course, have, our own members of parliament to warrant a meeting like the one you convened yesterday, neither can we be of National Security threat but all we are calling for is justice and respect for our right to our ancestral lands like the rest of Kenyans living in this country.

The forest can never be well managed without involving local communities and educating them on the need to conserve.

Finally, we entirely support the government's decisions to safeguard and protect the beautiful Mau forest complex but remembering those who lived side by side all these years without the slightest destruction. We too the Ogiek people do not want to be destroyed by corrupt regimes under the pretext of conservation.

I am not sure you will read this letter, but someone will read it one day and act upon. I hope you can find time to read it. It will open your eyes to the suffering of the voiceless peoples of the woods.

Long Live the Mau Forest,

Long Live My people, My ancestors, Our people "THE OGIEK"

Signed on behalf of the Ogiek People
Sincerely,


CHARLES SAINA SENA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR; ORIP
CHAIRMAN OGIEK PEOPLES NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (OPNA)


Cc:
His Excellency President Kibaki
Minister for Lands
PC Nakuru
DC Narok
Kenya National Human Rights Commission
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Geneva

Update: 06.07.2005

Ogiek case postponed

06. July 2005

The High Court in Nakuru has postpond this morning the civil applicationof  the Ogiek vs the Narok County Council concerning the eviction of Ogiek from Mau Forest. The Narok County Council demanded more time to set their defence.

Update: 28.06.2005

Spare us from eviction, plead Ogiek

Story by NATION Correspondent
Publication Date: 6/28/2005

Ogiek community members have asked the Government to spare them from ongoing eviction in Mau Forest.

Their spokesman, Pastor Julius Ngayami, yesterday said the community's lifestyle was "environmental friendly" and its members were not to blame for the destruction of water catchments in Enoosupukia, Narok District.

"The Ogiek are hunters and gatherers and do not destroy the environment," he said. He asked the Government to resettle about 100 families who were evicted from the forest.

"Our children used to attend Empeuti Primary School but have been left to roam in the villages after the school was burnt down," the cleric said.

The community had been living in Marioshoni and Tinet forests in Narok since the colonial times.

Pastor Ngayami said the Ogiek had no problems with the Government until vast chunks of the Mau were converted into settlement schemes in the 1990s.

Update: 23.06.2005

Kenya Times
23. 06.2005

ON 21st May 2005, a contingent of about 50 administration police and hired hoodlums lead by two district officers raided Beef Research Farm at Lanet, Nakuru and torched down 51 hovels in which 118 squatter families lived since 1956.

Earlier a senior police officer had given orders to ignore security needs of entire Subukia to dispatch scores of police to guard a private property that an individual had stolen from hundreds of people.

Equally reminiscent of bad old days when James Mungai was police chief in Nakuru, the same officer had sent police officers with fertilizer and seed to plant for a rich farmer in a piece of land that hundreds of poorer farmers were claiming to own.

Most people who watched the incredible spectacle of administration police torching people’s homes on most TV reacted with shock, disbelief and wonder how officers of Narc government could perpetrate something so brutal.

Since I have asked myself when our President and Internal Security Minister Michuki watch TV and see what shocks us, does the President call Michuki to enquire how an abomination like that something so horrible can happen and does Michuki call his PS or PC Rift Valley to explain how an abomination like that happened and order that the welfare of the affected victims and especially old men, women, children and the sick be taken care of.

Did Michuki ask where these people are living now, whether their children are still going to school, where are they sleeping and do they have food to eat? If the President and Michuki did not ask this, what did they say?

That poor people should know better than be squatters on the land desired by the rich? If the government is silent when its citizens are crying for help, does it really care for them? Why leaders see their citizenry in tears why don’t they rush to find out why and console them.

Had it been the houses of their children, relatives and friends so burnt and demolished, would they maintain their studious silence and indifference?

Narc came to power to save our people from the misrule, dictatorship and heartlessness of Kanu but we have rendered homeless poor squatters that colonial tyranny and Kanu dictatorship spared for 50 years. What does this say of Narc government?

When a government that wants the poor to support and return it to power is asked why it demolishes their only shelter, it says “private property must be protected.” So the government burns and demolishes the hovels of the poor to avail government land they were squatting on to the rich woman who already owns the big farm that neighbours the government land.

If the government burns to avail land to the rich, who protects the poor and gives them shelter? Or are they not worth protecting? Does not the constitution that empowers the government to protect private property of the rich also enjoin them to protect the lives of the poor and their miserable shelter? If so, they will rely on the Constitution of God – those who have will have more given to them and those who have little will have even the little they have taken away from them.

When I see a single rich person able to bring 50 administration police to evict 118 families from a government farm to increase the amount of land an individual has, I ask myself, what times are we living in?

When western governments, after which our government is modelled, were first formed, it was solely to serve the interests of kings – fight their wars to conquer territory, protect them from rivals, rob people’s land for their ownership, tax or take people’s money for their enrichment and force people to work for them freely. The government then was primarily composed of soldiers and tax collectors.

After the Magna Carta of 1215, people were gradually able to wrestle governments from kings and transform them from machines of oppression to democracies that protect all against crime, guard the country against foreign invasions, use tax money to serve all, solve problems of all and dispense justice to all.

Narc government must not fashion itself after monarchies of old. It must be a democracy. To function as a democracy however, Narc government must listen to people and respond to their needs and cries.

A government that does not listen to the people or answer their cry is not a democracy. Equally a government that is used by the rich to rob the poor cannot be a democracy. Kanu governments were unpopular and finally fell because they became dictatorships that had no ear for the people and called their cry the voice of frogs that does not stop cows from drinking water.

By allowing the rich to use security forces to rob the poor, by turning a blind eye to their plight and deaf ears to their cry, Narc government is walking the same slippery slope that Kanu walked and may ultimately suffer the same demise.

Will Narc redeem itself by rehabilitating security forces to serve rather than persecute the poor and punish those of its officers that dare prostitute themselves to the rich or will it ask as former president Moi once dismissed the situation with: “let them talk, they will tire and shut up.”

When frogs in the river get too many and their cry too loud, even the cows may not drink water.

Update: 20.06.2005

OGIEK CRY FOR HELP

Please take note of the serious humanitarian crisis and the appaling condition in which the evicted Ogiek families from Enoosupukia were left by the Kenya state already in the first eviction wave. Please try to consider your assistance.

OGIEK RURAL INTEGRAL PROJECTS (ORIP)

 
Date: June 20, 2005
 
 
Hundreds of Ogiek of Enoosupukia (near Narok / Kenya), who had been camping at the catholic mission Enoosupukia following the 28th February 2005 evictions have been left completely stranded after the camp was reduced to ashes.  More than 200 Armed Police officers have been deployed in the area.
 
Children and women are left homeless after the camp they sought refuge was demolished by the police. The exercise has been dubbed as “saving the forests and the environment”.
 
The people affected are mainly the Ogiek who have resided and lived there since time immemorial. 
 
The police conducting this operation demolished and burnt houses and destroyed property. These people have thus been left without shelter, food, clothing and sanitation facilities. There is fear that there is now a serious likelihood of an outbreak of diseases.
 
Recent reports indicates that Mpeuti Primary was yesterday, reduced to ashes destroying property worth thousands of shillings. It’s alleged that James Meberme, the headmaster of the said school lost personal property.
 
The Ogiek Rural Integral Projects (ORIP) would like to bring to your attention the current situation at Enoosupukia, Narok District.
 
The general situation is pathetic and we call upon you to consider any possible assistance.
Kindly liaise with us on the way forward.
 
Yours sincerely,
BONIFACE TEGERET
PROGRAMS OFFICER ORIP

Update: 19.06.2005

Kenya Times
19.06.2005

By ERICK OTIENO

AGONY, desperation and anguish descended settlers at the Mau Forest in Narok District as the government stood its ground last week to continue with their evictions, generating political heat in the country as various groups either rallied behind the government or came to the defence of the victims.

Property worth millions of shillings, schools and other social facilities within the area were either closed or destroyed as families who have been settling in the forest with genuine legal documents were forcefully evicted. Reports of rape and other forms of physical abuse against victims were also abound even as the government stood its ground to continue with the evictions despite a court order halting the exercise.

On Tuesday, a group of Kanu MPs moved to court under a certificate of urgency to have the Narok County Council, the police or other agents barred from evicting the settlers and cited for contempt for court.

But Lands and Housing Minister Amos Kimunya and his Office of the President counterpart William ole Ntimama, have maintained that they will not be influenced by political factors to look back on the government’s mandate to protect the country’s natural resources.

Whereas the government has insisted that the forest is a public utility that needs to be safeguarded, many have questioned its treatment of the victims who paid for and even acquired title deeds for the parcels of land.

Of interest has been the public fury directed at Mr Ntimama, who has been championing the government’s cause with questions being raised on his sincerity over the matter. He has been accused of blaming the former Kanu regime under which the title deeds for the forest was issued while he was part of it.

The government has, however, blamed the controversy surrounding the evictions on political interference from a section of leaders who Mr Kimunya says are out to reap political capital from the exercise. The minister has on the other hand been accused of propaganda on the issue, including referring to the settlers as squatters with a view to bolster the government’s resolve to clear them from the forest.

But in a rejoinder, the minister sought to demonstrate the government’s move as well intended and even asked those being evicted to name individuals who sold them land in the forest so that they can be helped to get back their money.

Update: 18.06.2005

Obey the Law, or face jail - Land's Minister told
while freezing Ogiek children, who do not know their future or from where their next meal will come, are not cared for by the state machinery, who thrushes them into misery.


Narok/Nairobi - Kenya - 18.06.2005 - WTN - While UNEP's Klaus Toepfer, a stout supporter of globalization and the WTO - forcing African Nations more and more into dependencies -, who finances some of the players behind the forest evictions, just was praising the efforts of Kenyans to built low-cost housing for those who already have fallen off the natural life-track and into the hands of consumerisms and city-dwelling, at least HABITAT's director Anna Tibaijuka, a Haya lady from Tanzania, condemned the ongoing evictions in the Mau Forest and challenged the Kenya government to engage in constructive dialogue with aggrieved parties - and prior to any such inhuman move like the ongoing evictions. She clearly stated that though her organisation advocates the protection of areas, which are important water catchments, there is a great need for the government to ensure dialogue and security of tenure in settlement of its people.

Meanwhile Land's Minister Amos Kimunya, who despite very clear warnings from the Kenya Judiciary - instructing also him to obey court orders or face three years in jail - was only found mumbling on National TV that one would try to find some school places for the evicted children. Those schools had been burned by Administration Police based on his instructions, but he seems to believe only in the PR strategy of modern politicians: Just remain on your stubborn track and get away with it, because somebody else will create another havoc elsewhere. "As more outcries  - as more deaf ears!" applies also here and has its impact on the dwindling consciousness of the international community.

But Mr. Kimunya still seems to not have understood what he is actually doing; that it is not only the problem of some school going children of settlers, which were lured into these forests also with the assistance and compliance of civil servants of his own ministry, but that in the case of the Ogiek it is the plight of a whole nation of aboriginal people, which he had attacked with brutal force, guns and torching squads, and that he thereby causes his and his President's government to also break several international laws. That this government is no longer the government of the people who elected it, became also obvious in the recent opinion polls. But politics aside - the international law has mechanisms to deal with such cases, even if it might take long

Such operations are the best way to foster civil strive and also Kenya's Internal Security Minister is not very well advised if he refuses to meet with elders of indigenous peoples' delegations concerning these burning issues. Mutual respect, dialogue, free and prior informed consent must not just be buzz-words but baseline and outcome of any justified and just process - otherwise any governance looses its eligibility and finally there will be war - open or undercover.

The evicted Ogiek, however, have vowed to entrust their lives to their ancient forests, which made them surviving since Millennia, and opted to go back there, where they always found peace - deep in the forests and bamboo thickets, where even the British and their local askaris had failed to flush them out. Mr. Kimunya should know that his own brothers also survived similar attacks in the Aberdares and along the slopes of Kirinyaga (Mt. Kenya) during colonial times and that the outside aggressor never can win in the Mau likewise - except maybe if the whole ancient forest would be cut down, cleared and turned into guarded tree- and tea plantations of genetically modified organisms - is that the mid term strategy of the global players, the corporate clubs and their "conservation" stirrup-holders?

Two days ago, on the day of the African Child, Mr. Kimunya, however, turned himself into an icon for the oppression of Ogiek children, and his only reaction to the worldwide disgust concerning his operation, was his promise (or rather threat) to quickly shift the children into strange areas and schools of communities foreign to them. Would Kenya as a Nation allow that it's children would forcefully be deported from their lands and into foreign schools? No? So, why you then force Ogiek children out of their lands, out of their forests, Mister Minister?

Update: 17.06.2005

Please get directly in contact with the Ogiek Support Programme by e-mail via ogiekchild@ecoterra.net or call +254-733-633-000

to sign the appeal to President Kibaki pls go to http://www.ogiek.org and click on TAKE ACTION

to receive the Ogiek updates, please send an e-mail to subcribe.ogiek@ecoterra.net

to search more information about the struggle of the Ogiek go to http://www.ogiek.org

Narok District Education Officer Beatrice Makau (centre) and Knut Narok branch chairman Marisin Ruto (fourth right) inspect a flag allegedly burned by security officers at Kebenet Primary School in Narok South as they evicted squatters. Pic by Nehemiah Lagat

Update: 16.06.2005

Squatters now say officers raped, robbed them

By Vitalis Kimutai
East African Standard
Thursday June 16, 2005

Squatters evicted from Mau forest yesterday claimed security officers raped them.

Administration Policemen and Narok County Council rangers were also accused of robbing victims of money.

Two elderly women yesterday narrated their ordeal to journalists even as district administrators denied knowledge of such incidents.

Mulot District Officer Benedict Musyoki told The Standard last evening that the alleged victims were yet to make formal complaints with the police. He, however, assured that the matter would be investigated and action taken against the culprits.

District Officer Hassan Farah was out of the office when The Standard called him to comment on the claims.

The women alleged they were raped at Lelechwet and Koitabai villages in Mulot Division, Narok South on Sunday.

One victim tearfully narrated how two armed officers took turns to rape her while holding a gun to her head. She said her attackers then burnt down her two semi-permanent houses at Lelechwet village. She said she lost Sh10,000 in cash and other property in the fire.

The other woman claimed she was raped by three armed policemen at her clinic at Koitabai trading centre. She said the officers also ransacked the clinic and stole Sh45,000. They allegedly burnt down the clinic as they left.

But the women said they had not reported the matter to the police or sought treatment because they could not leave their children unattended in the cold.

The nearest police station, they said, was at Mulot trading centre, more than 80 kilometres away.

The women were speaking at Chebitet Primary School, where hundreds of displaced people are camping.

Businessman Joseph Towett could not fight tears as he narrated how the armed officers robbed him of Sh180,000 at Lelechwet village.

African Gospel Church of Kenya assistant Bishop, the Reverend Paul Leleito yesterday told journalists that other women and girls also claimed to have been raped.

Settlers must leave forest, vows minister

Story by MBURU MWANGI
Publication Date: 06/16/2005

The removal of settlers from Mau Forest will be implemented fully, despite a court order, Lands minister Amos Kimunya has said.

Saying the decision was endorsed by the Cabinet, the minister said no amount of political rhetoric or crying foul would stop the Government from carrying out its constitutional mandate of protecting the country's natural wealth for posterity.

Yesterday, Mr Kimunya said court orders on the forest had not barred the Cabinet from implementing the Ndung'u report on land, as they were only directed at the Narok county council. And while the Government sympathised with those who were "conned into buying the illegally acquired forest land", he said, it considered the water-catchments more important. The government would deal with facts, not emotions, he added.

Said Mr Kimunya: "We sympathise, especially with schoolchildren who have no idea what is happening, but we are assessing the situation to see how quickly we can re-settle them."

He accused some politicians of playing to the gallery and cameras while those they misled into buying the land suffered.

He said the demarcation of the forest was going on, and anybody inside the forest boundary would have to go.

The minister said that during the surveying of the trust land that borders the forest, leaders of group ranches that were the beneficiaries advertently increased the land by eating into the forest.

"Most titles do not conform to the law and must be validated. We have no problem with anyone outside the forest boundaries, but anyone inside the forest must consider his title as just a piece of paper," he added.

He said most of the settlers knew that the land they were buying was not genuine, yet they did not stop to ask themselves about the consequences of their actions.

"We had many people coming here to ask whether they should buy that land, but we told them they would do so at their own peril," said the minister.

He said he expected the evicted settlers to expose those who sold them the land so that investigations into the illegal acquisition could net the culprits.

Meanwhile, a Kenya National Union of Teachers official yesterday urged the Government to rebuild schools demolished during the evictions.

Bomet executive secretary Wilson Sossion demanded that new schools be equipped afresh before the pupils and teachers returned.

The children were traumatised, he said, and expressed the fear that Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination candidates and their Form Four colleagues would not perform well.

Urging the Government to recognise title deeds and resettle all displaced farmers, Mr Sossion said in Bomet town: "The side-effects of the evictions will not be sweet to the Government and the entire country."

But a conservation group from Narok yesterday welcomed the decision to restore the Mau Forest and save it from massive destruction.

The group, Friends of Mau Conservation, urged the Government and the Narok country council to "forever be vigilant and protect this water catchment area at all costs".

Led by its chairman Mpatinga ole Kamoye, the group said it was unfortunate that some leaders to politicised such an issue of national importance and read malice where none existed.

Additional reporting by Geoffrey Rono and Mugo Njeru

Update: 15.06.2005

Bewildered villagers still in shock as police evict them from their homes

Story by MBURU MWANGI
Publication Date: 06/15/2005

Residents of Kamung'ei Village in Mau Forest flee their homes after they were evicted by police last week. Photo by William Oeri

Lydiah Chebet's two wet exercise books lie abandoned on her desk in her Standard One class at Sepetet Junior School in Ololulunga Division, Narok District. The polythene school bag of her classmate, Beatrice Chepkoech, also lies on the desk in front. The classroom is in a mess as exercise books are strewn all over amidst broken and partly burnt desks. No roof covers the room and the windows have been removed. It is obvious they were ripped off in a moment of fright. The three students and their 200 colleagues from the school fled in panic after a contingent of police officers from the Rapid Deployment Unit, the Kenya Police Reserve, game rangers and forest guards swooped on the school on the afternoon of May 7.  In the village nicknamed Sierra Leone, most people have taken cover except for the few souls looking for valuables.

Kamung'ei, for that is the real name of this place, is deep inside Mau Forest. It became a booming shopping centre since one of the first inhabitants built several wooden shops in 2000.

That man was a soldier who had recently returned from peace-keeping duties in the real Sierra Leone. Other businesses were built, including the school and many landless residents of Bomet, Kericho and Buret trooped to the area when the trust land under Narok council was sub-divided to the various group ranches. They bought this land after it was sub-divided. 

Mr Hilary Koech, who settled in Kamung'ei four years ago and started a butchery and a wholesale shop called Hilarious, says life in the area had been happy for people who never thought they would own a piece of land. 

He cannot quite fathom the recent events when security forces swooped on them, leaving him with a loss of more than Sh50,000 in destroyed merchandise.

Although, the contingent of armed men did not destroy all buildings, they set some houses on fire "as a warning of what would follow if we did not heed orders and decamp," Mr Koech said.

They were only given three hours to bring down their buildings and vacate the land they had come to believe was theirs.

Instinctively, they decided not to resist and each family started pulling down its house to cushion themselves against further losses in case bulldozers were called to the site.

But in some schools, like Sepetet, the police torched the buildings even as the terrified pupils looked to their teachers for an explanation before taking to their heels for a journey to nowhere.

Ms Alice Langat, a mother of two, was only able to save a few belongings, which included seven chickens. Her husband carried the chickens while she trudged along with her two sons, a heavy bag on her back.

From their Nyamira Ndogo Village home, they had to walk 30km to the Narok-Bomet road at Ololulunga divisional headquarters from where they could board a matatu to Mulot.

Bomet and Mulot is where many, especially women and children, are seeking refugee. The men remain behind to salvage and take away whatever they can. 

From Ololulunga to Nyamira Ndogo, from Ololulunga to Olmenyeku, troops of displaced families trudge on, some with their livestock.

Mzee Joseph Sigei, 70, Mr Joseph Bii, 53 and Mr Joseph Mitei, 45 all tell tales of woe and loss for which they were unprepared. 

Kamung'ei villagers at Sierra Leone Trading Centre in Narok last week. Photo by William Oeri

The Nation found the three Josephs wandering with their livestock on the road from a village called Sierra Leone wondering where to go. Mzee Sigei, a father of 11 children, says he bought his land five years ago. "When the trust land was adjudicated and sub-divided into various plots, the members of the ranches came to us in Buret to ask whether we had any need for land. I bought five acres," he says.

Later, he sold his ancestral land and that is now his dilemma as he has nowhere to go. Most of his children have gone back to Buret to stay with neighbours. They lament that they were not given notice to quit and when the security officers ambushed them, it was to give them three hours to pack and leave.

It is estimated that more than 20,000 people have so far been evicted from several parts of the forest like Tergat, Kipchoge, Arorwet and Sierra Leone (Kamung'ei). 

A senior administration official says next in line is Ol Kurto. He says that they were given three notices, some of which were delivered during public meetings. More than 10 public and private primary schools and three secondary schools, with a student population of about 5,000 have been closed as students flee the wrath of security forces enforcing the eviction order. The schools include public ones like Oleshepan, Kitopen, Ororwet, Osongoroi, Olseilot and Enakishomi.

But even as they flee, they are demanding that the Government ensures they are compensated since it was the Government that granted them the land ownership documents.

And even as the Government faces up to the fact that the catchment area must be guarded to save the millions of people depending on it, it must face up to the bitter truth about the rightful ownership.

Prior to the issuance of title deeds, the same council wrote the group ranches about the boundary between the council forest and the group ranches on which those evicted bought land. One of the letters dated June 22 to Sisiyian Group Ranch and signed on behalf of the clerk by Mr Isaac Partoip says: "Following a visit by council officials, district surveyor, district forest officer, land adjudication and settlement officer between 19 to 22 June, 2000, it was established that your boundary line reaches Amala River where latitude 9920 crosses longitude 792.

It has, therefore, been confirmed that the group ranch did not encroach into council forest. This letter will therefore serve as a "no objection" and you can go ahead and sub-divide and develop your ranch."

The victims says it was on the strength of this letter that they were able to acquire title deeds. There were two court orders barring the council and the Government from evicting the settlers and which the council has ignored.

 Additional reporting by Joseph Kimani

SOURCE: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=51133

Continued destruction spells doom for many

Daily Nation
Story by MBURU MWANGI
Publication Date: 06/15/2005

The destruction of the 400,000-hectare Mau complex – Kenya's largest forest – spells doom for millions of people. 

As a mountain forest, it is one of the five main "water towers" – the others being Mt Kenya, the Aberdares, Mt Elgon and Cherangany hills.

The Mau complex forms the upper catchment of all but one main rivers west of the Rift Valley. They include the Nzoia, Yala, Nyando, Sondu (key to a power-generation project), Kerio, Molo, Mara and Ewaso Nyiro.

According to a report by Unep, the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Kenya Forests Working Group, the complex feeds such major lakes as Victoria, Turkana, Baringo, Nakuru and Natron.

Victoria, Turkana and Natron are cross-boundary. Victoria, shared by the three East African countries, feeds the Nile which snakes its way through the Sudan into the Mediterranean Sea. 

Lake Turkana is shared between Kenya and Ethiopia, while Natron stands on the Tanzanian border.

The report, a wake-up call to protect the Mau, shows the major conservation features made possible by the forest, including the South Turkana national reserve with a scenic landscape and wildlife.

There are then the Kerio Valley national reserve, Lake Baringo with an estimated 470 bird species, the Lake Nakuru national park, considered the second most visited protected area important for bird life; Lake Natron, the main flamingo breeding area in the Rift Valley; the Maasai Mara national reserve – world-famous for big game, great migrations and bird life; the Serengeti national park, a world heritage site and world-famous for big game and migrations; and the Kakamega forest national reserve – the only one remaining in Kenya of the Guinea-Congolese forest ecosystem. 

The reserve also has a great diversity of birds, butterflies and plants.

A large number of Kenyans live in the Lake Victoria basin, crossed by major rivers flowing from the Mau complex.

The complex also provides environmental services essential to crop production, including a continuous water flow, favourable climate conditions and many products such as medicinal plants, firewood and grass.

Real issues buried in politics

Story by MBURU MWANGI and JOSEPH KIMANI
Publication Date: 06/15/2005

SOURCE: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=51135 

Officers accused of rape and theft during eviction

Daily Nation
Story by JOSEPH KIMANI and GEOFFREY RONO
Publication Date: 06/15/2005

As the Government announced that it had successfully evicted nearly 10,000 people from Mau forest in Narok, allegations of rape and extortion were made against some officers by the squatters. 

The officers were brutal and some of them were involved in criminal activities during the eviction, claimed the Rev Paul Leleito of the African Gospel Church of Kenya.

He asked the Government to ensure the eviction was conducted humanely.

A 40-year-old mother of three at Chebitet Primary School claimed that four administration officers dragged her into a maize plantation, raped her in turns and robbed her of Sh10,000, the proceeds of two heifers she had just sold.

Livestock trader Joseph Towett of Lelechwet Village claimed officers beat him up and took his Sh180,000 and Mr Andrew Tonuin of Kapkunia said he lost Sh10,000 to another group of officers.

Others who alleged to have been robbed by the eviction squad included Mr Isaac Biondo, who lost Sh30,000, Mr Richard Bett, Sh10,800 and Mr William Chepkulul, Sh22,500.

The officer in charge of Mulot police station could not be reached for comment but an official, who declined to be named, said he had received the complaints but said the victims had not recorded statements. 

Bishop Johnson Kiptonui of the Church of Christ echoed the Rev Leleito's charge and asked the Government to tread carefully lest it sparks a resurgence of tribal skirmishes in Narok.

Nearly 10,000 people were evicted from the forest, said Mr Hassan Farah, the district commissioner, yesterday. 

The two-week operation had removed 9,200 illegal squatters which, according to the DC, was a success.

The eviction team would now move to Kiraba in the neighbouring Narok North constituency, where 200 people were targeted, he said.

During the Mau operation, conducted by Rapid Deployment Unit, administration and regular police, Kenya Police Reserve and forest guards, 2,608 houses were pulled down, including those at eight primary schools.

Speaking during World Environmental Day celebrations, the DC said 2,721 pupils and teachers would be moved to schools outside the forest.

He said 68 Standard Eight examination candidates would be distributed to other schools to sit their tests "comfortably".

The DC gave the names of the schools as Kenet, Chebbitet, Ngosagami, Koitabai, Kitoben, Kabaraka and Entianet.

More than half of the 58 hectares of council trust land forest were destroyed, said the DC. The Government forest reserve covered 72 hectares, he said.

The council forest had suffered destruction in which more than nine rivers dried up. This is what had made the Government intervene by evicting the squatters, said Mr Farah.

Though heavily "politicised" by critics, Mr Farah said, the eviction would continue so that charcoal burners and loggers were flushed out and the forests were safe.

The DC appealed to all communities in the district to continue living in harmony and said no community would be victimised.

Mr Farah asked politicians to stop using the eviction to further their interests. He said the 50,000 figure of evicted people quoted by some politicians earlier was "grossly exaggerated".

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Update: 12.06.2005

Stop these evictions, MPs urge Kibaki

By Vitalis Kimutai
East African Standard
Sunday June 12, 2005

Three Members of Parliament from Rift Valley Province want to meet President Mwai Kibaki over the on-going evictions in Mau Forest.

The MPs from the Kalenjin community, including a Cabinet minister, said yesterday they would demand the suspension of the exercise, which targets 50,000 people in Narok South. Terming the evictions political, they demanded a lasting solution saying the situation could get out of hand.

The evictions are being carried out by Administration Police officers and rangers from Narok County Council.

Regional Co-operation minister John Koech, Bomet MP Nick Salat and nominated MP Franklin Bett warned that evicting people from their farms would re-ignite tribal animosity. Koech said thousands of people were camping in various trading centres after being kicked out of their farms, which, he noted, had been acquired legally.

The minister said he would take the matter before the Cabinet. The MPs were speaking in Bomet where they addressed area residents.

Salat asked the President to have the evictions stopped, saying they negated the government’s policy of reviving the economy.

Bett said more than 4,000 pupils who had registered for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education may not sit the examination, as their schools had been demolished.

The nominated Narc MP said it was a shame the government was evicting members of the Kalenjin community from land for which they have title deeds.

Bett said if the government was genuine about its efforts to conserve the Mau Forest, it should provide tree seedlings for planting to people settled in the area.

He advised the government to initiate massive reforestation programmes as locals were willing to plant trees on both domestic and commercial scales.

New security plan for Mau forest

Story by MBURU MWANGI and JOSEPH KIMANI
Sunday Nation
Publication Date: 6/12/2005

About 10 police posts are to be built around the Mau forest for its protection, an official told the Sunday Nation yesterday.

Narok county clerk Stan Ondimu said they would be manned by game rangers, police reservists, administration police and guards to make sure nobody evicted from the forest went back. 

The council, the trustee of the controversial land before it was given out to group ranches, he said, would hire more rangers to facilitate the forest's rehabilitation by environmentalists. 

A long-term rehabilitation plan was under way, he added.

Mr Ondimu said people had gone 27 km into the forest although the government forest itself had not been touched. The affected council land is about 54,000 hectares.

But as the clerk spoke, more than 10 primary and three secondary schools remained closed after their 10,000 students fled from security forces.

More than 30,000 residents will have been evicted when the exercise is completed.

The evictions come in the wake of complaints by environmental groups that the degradation of the forest has caused some rivers to dry up. 

The forest's catchment area supports at least nine major rivers, including the Mara, which traverses the world-famous Maasai Mara game reserve.

The rivers serve more than 20 million people in East Africa, since most of them empty their waters into Lake Victoria. They also support wildlife and livestock.

However, the evictions have been roundly condemned, especially by MPs from Bomet, Bureti and Kericho districts, who term them inhuman and brutal. 

Most of the settlers in the controversial land are originally from the three districts. 

Yesterday, Cabinet minister John Koech and MPs Nick Salat and Franklin Bett urged the Government to suspend the operation until a better way of solving the problem was found.

They said it was unfortunate that people with title deeds were being evicted from land they had legally acquired from group ranches and individual residents.

Addressing a rally in Bomet town, the leaders appealed to President Kibaki to help the people whose houses had been burnt and their property destroyed.

They criticised a Narok politician they did not name for instigating the evictions on the pretext that they had illegally settled in vital water catchment areas.

Mr Bett said that since the evictions started, 4,255 children from 16 primary schools were at home. Many families had been made homeless and were camping at trading centres, while others were being accommodated at relatives' homes in Bomet and Bureti.

But Cabinet minister William ole Ntimama has supported the evictions, saying this is the only way to stop the forest's destruction.

But Kabete MP Paul Muite said Mr Ntimama had no moral authority to accuse the former government of illegally allocating the land when he was part of it. Former Narok South MP Samson ole Tuya and 50 other local leaders also supported the evictions.

Mau forest evictions ruffle many feathers

Story by GEOFFREY RONO
Sunday Nation
Publication Date: 6/12/2005

What may have initially seemed like routine eviction of squatters from the Mau forest complex is threatening to turn into a highly complicated and potentially explosive ecological, ethnic and political issue.

The area MPs – Mr Stephen ole Ntutu and Cabinet minister William ole Ntimama – are at loggerheads over the matter. 

Mr Ntutu, whose family sold some of the land in contention to settlers from Kericho and the Gusii districts, accuses Mr Ntimama of muscling in on the issue to undermine him politically.

Kericho, Bomet and Bureti MPs claim that Mr Ntimama is playing up ethnic division between the indigenous residents and the immigrant communities and warn of a resurgence of ethnic clashes. 

Meanwhile, the Government claims to be concerned about the environment, accusing the settlers of interfering with an important water catchment area.

Land claims nullified

When, about 30 years ago, the Kericho, Bomet, Bureti, Kisii, Gucha and Nyamira settlers moved into Narok and bought farms, they could never have suspected the problems they were storing up for the future, or that the Government would one day nullify their claims to land ownership.

Many of the settlers from the neighbouring Bomet and Kisii districts had relinquished what land they might have had in their native homeland and moved to make new homes in Narok. 

In their new settlement, they bought huge tracts of land from the residents, who sold farms that had been designated as group ranches. 

As part of the deals at the time, the Narok county council gave out letters of "no objection" to allow the subdivision of the ranches, and title deeds were issued by the Government to the new settlers.

In the end, it is estimated that more than 50,000 new families settled in Narok South. In memory of their former homes, some gave some of the areas they occupied names carried over from the lands of origin.

The settler families soon started building schools and churches and establishing shopping centres.

In the last few weeks, all these structures have been flattened or torched by law enforcement officers and people from the Narok county council in what the Government calls a move to protect the endangered Mau forest complex.

By mid-last week, more than 5,000 houses and several granaries had been destroyed and the residents made homeless or internally displaced people.

Fate of 1,300 pupils

Among the affected farms are Segemia, Tendwet, Nyamira Ndogo, Sierra Leone, Mekenyu, Sogoo and Ararwet. 

As a result, the fate of more than 1,300 pupils, including Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination candidates, is unknown. Narok district commissioner Farah Hassan maintains that the exercise will continue until all the people the Government regards as squatters who have encroached on the expansive Mau forest are evicted.

Mr Hassan says squatters have depleted the forest cover and have frustrated government efforts to conserve the environment. He said the government had been left no alternative but to have the squatters moved on once and for all. 

Cabinet minister William ole Ntimama, the who hails from the neighbouring Narok North MP, constituency has lent his support to the Government move to evict people settled at the Mau forest region saying their settlement had caused havoc onto the forests.

Mr Ntimama has indicated that he would like the settlers evicted swiftly, as he blames them for the destruction of the environment. He wants them sent back to their ancestral homes.

Said the minister as the settlers were being evicted: "There are forests in Bomet District, go and destroy them and leave the Maasai forests alone."

Mr Ntimama added that he would mobilise all councillors from Narok District to move in and ensure that all the squatters were evicted out as soon as possible.

However, his Narok South counterpart Mr Stephen ole Ntutu, whose constituency hosts most of the settlers, has accused the minister of being behind the evictions in a bid to undermine him in the constituency Narok South.

Mr Ntutu said his family sold some of their land to some of the families being evicted and that they had legally acquired title deeds for the land parcels.

Exclaimed Mr Ntutu: "What is this madness? The Government is now saying our farm was part of the Mau forests."

He at the same time accused the Narok district commissioner of being used to disobey court orders refraining him and the police officers from carrying out the exercise merely to undermine his leadership.

Mr Ntutu maintained that the DC was applying double standards in the eviction and warned him not to gamble with his constituents' lives.

It was Mr Ntutu who invited nine others his fellow MPs from the Opposition party Kanu, representing some of the areas where the settlers migrated from, had originally come from to witness the evictions. 

The Kanu MPs faulted the eviction and condemned the Government for being insensitive to the plight of its citizens. Kanu MPs who toured most of the affected areas warned that if the Government was not ready to protect the lives of the families being evicted, they would mobilise them to protect themselves.

Also tagging along

They included Mr Nick Salat (Bomet), Mr Paul Sang (Bureti), Mr William Ruto (Eldoret North), Mr Joseph Lagat (Eldoret South), Mr Joseph Korir (Mogotio) and Mr Samuel Poghisio (Kacheliba). 

Others were Mr Musa Sirma (Eldama Ravine), Mr Jim Choge (Aldai) and Mr Antony Kimeto (Sotik). 

Also tagging along was former Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto, who in 1998 openly clashed with Mr Ntimama on a similar issue. The MPs argued that the Government had no business dishonouring the title deeds it had previously issued to the evicted settlers.

They at the time called for the arrest of Mr Hassan and the local police officers for ignoring a court order issued by the High Court on June 2, stopping the evictions until the application filed by some of the affected families was heard on June 14.

As the MPs toured the affected regions, they encountered thousands of settlers who had fled their homes carrying whatever they could salvage after the evictions. The Kanu MPs accused Mr Ntimama of crusading against members of the Kipsigis community and suggested that this time it would be the minister who would have to "lie low like an envelope"." The visiting MPs said the families being evicted had no alternative homes to move to adding, "they will move from Narok only when they are headed to heaven"."

But the Government said the MPs should tread carefully while conducting the exercise as the move could easily touch off tribal skirmishes.

Ogiek suffer from Kenya squatter eviction - Update -

- when the Bulls fight the Grass suffers -

Narok / Kenya - WTN - 12. June 2005 - As Ogiek women and children flee the area of indiscriminate mass eviction in the neighbourhood of Narok town in South-Western Kenya and suffer from the invasion by the "Kenya-Government Tribe" , it becomes more and more clear, who is fighting with whom over what. Certain tribes belonging to the Maasai on the one side and the nilotic Kalenjin group of tribes on the other are fighting over what never has been theirs - the Mau Forest, traditional habitat of the Ogiek. Even the Kenyan mainstream media fall now into the propaganda traps and start terming certain parts of South Mau Forest as "Masai Mau", a land title reflected by no official map or land register ever. The map on the wall of the District Forest Officer in Narok only shows that a hardly literate hand smeared MASAI MAU over a certain stretch of forest near Narok town.

The historical mistake of the Ogiek might only have been that they had been too friendly to the invading and ever expanding hordes, including the colonial forces, because they believed that they themselves could better survive, if they stay peaceful in their forests. With the corporate and aid sponsored "Kenya tribe" - the Government - now on the scene and an ever growing interest of the neighbouring majority tribes in expansion mode, this traditional way to avoid conflict will not work any longer for the Ogiek.

Going deeper into the forest will also not save the Ogiek this time, since the forest dwellers are soon after out on the other side of the shrunk forestland, which has been hammered on by thieving timber industry and agricultural ventures since 50 years without any halt by governance. Together the exploiters of the Mau never gave a damn about the aboriginal minority peoples' interests and needs. While projects like KIFCON (Kenya Indigenous Forest Conservation Project), which respected the Ogiek for their role they have to play in forest protection, were forcefully halted by the former government of President Moi, today President Kibaki's governance still has not found the just approach to the problems, but merely slingers in a PR driven mode between the glamorous "conservation" and corporate "business" events of the growing number of influential city dwellers among his population, who just cry out for more and more resources and more and more money.

While claiming to safeguard the environment and to pacify the two ethnic and three political majority groups who battle over the land and forests, foreign sponsored "Conservation" and "State Security" entities work hand in hand in what can only be termed a concerted ethnocide against the Ogiek.

The struggle for the protection and rehabilitation of the Mau forest can not succeed by just dishing out shares of influence to aggressive new invaders or corporate players, who have a certain political cloud but only monetary interests. The battle for a better future for all and an intact forest ecosystem can only be won in a just process and together with the original inhabitants of the Mau forest - the Ogiek.

The genuine Ogiek, who now or earlier were evicted together with the hordes of invading squatters, must be respected in their constitutional and traditional rights, allowed to return to their forest homeland and helped to rebuild their burned houses as well as their ever impoverished but now also scattered lives, since - not at least - the Ogiek are the true conservators of these forests.

Update: 10.06.2005

OGIEK RURAL INTEGRAL PROJECTS (ORIP)

                                                                                                           Date: June 10, 2005

MAU FOREST EVICTIONS

The Kenyan government continues to evict people from the Mau Narok forest west of Narok and over 3,000 Ogiek so far are homeless. The total number of Ogiek evicted in Narok district numbers over 3,500 people. If the exercise is not halted and dialogue sought over 10,000 Ogiek people will be affected.

Despite the fact that the Ogiek are the original inhabitants and the territorial owners of the Mau forest, they continue to suffer in the hands of Kenyan authorities.

The government has not come up with clear eviction policies and on housing rights hence contravening the constitution of Kenya.

We are appealing to our government to reconsider its decision and spare the Ogiek further harassment and eviction. We further appeal to our friends to pressure the government to respect indigenous peoples rights as enshrined in International Covenants and Instruments some of which Kenya is signatory.


Yours sincerely,



CHARLES SAINA SENA,
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR;ORIP

Update: 09.06.2005

Indigenous peoples in Kenya persecuted by state, corporate and NGO terror

Scorched homestead policy in Kenya

Narok, Kenya 09. June 2005 - The Ogiek - one of the few true aboriginal people of Kenya face not only constant persecution from the majority tribes, but are now targeted by international corporations and their proxies in government as well as in NGO cover-ups. 

Reason: The Ogiek are the original inhabitants of the Mau forest complex, which is the largest remaining forest in Kenya and thereby not only very important for the water supply to needy citizens elsewhere, but a key asset for the billion dollar water, tea farming, coke and beer breweries' industries.

Brutal businesses, which from down under invade and denude the Mau forest of its timber since decades or from the top even dare to call and camouflage themselves as "Conservation Corporations" conspire with political megalomaniacs who lead only the expansionist interests of their own relatives

Please see the open letter from the Ogiek below and go to http://www.ogiek.org/action/index.htm  for more details and a letter of protest (ACTION) with which you are kindly requested to express your view and outrage over the eviction of aboriginal peoples from their ancestral homeland, the persecution of whole families of Ogiek and the torching of their houses by government forces.

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BONA FIDE HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR

Date: 07/06/2005 

H.E. PRESIDENT 
MWAI KIBAKI 
STATE HOUSE 
NAIROBI, KENYA



RE: KINDLY SAVE THE OGIEK OF KENYA FROM EVICTION: 

Dear President, 

This is to bring the above subject into your concern. 

The Ogiek are the remaining forest dwellers who reside in Mau complex per history before 1900. These comprises of Narok South, Nakuru and Mt. Elgon. The Ogiek are the caretakers of fauna and flora since time memorial. They suffered through the previous regime hence voted you as “Kibaki Tosha” 2002. The Ogiek are supporting your decision in condemning and fighting corruption within all sectors of the Republic. Congratulations for your entire effort as the president as you even promised the Ogiek in Tinet for the title deeds last year. 

Despite them having no members of parliament of their own, nor nominated neither spokesman, they rely on the provincial administration to reach your office for their grievances. 

Cry for justice 

Recently the Narok District commissioner Mr. Farah Hassan deployed administrative police, forest guards and Narok county council security to torch and or burn their homes and houses. The affected areas are Enaikishomi former group ranch number 115 with approx. 300 title deeds and Nkaroni former group ranch number 118 with approx. 1,000 title deeds. The DC didn’t consult the elders from the area hence officers rushing anyhow torching their houses. 

The two ranches are the Ogiek reserves allocated to them through land adjudication. The government surveyors and the minister of land issued the community with title deeds after the whole process was implemented. 

By torching their houses, slaughtering animals, burning of schools etc. the DC is staining the reputation and or the image of your government in the observation of human rights law. 

Some Maasai groups like ‘Friends of Mau forest conservation Association’ are seriously fundraising money and inciting pressure to the perpetrators to evict only Ogiek. This association and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) or is it Frog pretends to protect Mau but in real sense they are the targeted beneficial. 

Only Ogiek groups have been the targets of displacement as the association have raised more than Kshs 500,000 to facilitate the same. Hence the big question is: Why as the government neglected this community and back the Maasai? Why all this sort of injustices on human rights violation? Is it due that the Maasai have got the Minister and the MPs while this small community have got no post in your government at all? 

Demand

(1) The Ogiek community has got nowhere else to go except to remain in their ancestral land with their title deeds. 

(2) We can not rule out the possibility of clashes, if the whole matter is overlooked and is not addressed. So kindly take serious measures in advance. 

(3) Hon. William Ole Ntimama is the main culprit who incites the Provincial Administration to evict the Ogiek in Enoo Supukia, Sasimwani, Nkaroni and Enaikishomi 

(4) The Minister should come clean and declare that the Kikuyu, the Kipsigis and the rest of the tribes should keep off setting foot in Narok, with the intention to live or buy land in Narok districts. 

(6) Kindly provide the Ogiek with such positions as DC’s, D.O’s. in your government. 

(7) The Mau forest should remain the Ogiek home henceforth 

(8) Kindly stop the ongoing eviction by Narok county council and act on the Ndung’u recommendations besides giving Kenyans a new constitution, 

Lastly but not least, Sir, the Ogiek are kindly requesting for your protection from the hands of the butchers of Kenya. 

Hoping for your urgent response soon. 

Yours Faithfully, 


PETER KIPLANGAT. 
BONA FIDE HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR 
NAKURU.



For the undersign. 


1. John Koipitat Sena. 

2. Daniel Sulunye 

3. Simon Sena 

4. Moses Rana 

5. Johnstone Kipterer 

6. Joseph Mapelu 


Cc. 

1. Ambassador Muthaure  – Secretary to the cabinet 
2. Kiraitu Murungi  - Min. Justice & Constitutional; Affairs 
3. Maina Kiai  – Chairman Kenya Human Rights Commission 
4. Amos Wako  – Attorney General 
5. Michuki John  – Min. Incharge of Security & Provincial Administration. 
6. Kalonzo Musyoka  – Min. For Environmental & Natural Resources 
7. Amos Kimunya  – Min. For Lands & Housing 
8. Uhuru Kenyatta  – Opposition Leader 
9. Ndingi Mwana Nzeki  – Catholic Archbishop 
10. Permanent secretary  - Office of the President 
11. Amb. Rey Kyles  – British High Commissioner 
12. Amb. Bellamy  - American Ambassador 
13. Wilfred Ndolo  – Provincial Commissioner (Rift Valley) 
14. Kitonyi Joseph  – P.P.O 
15. Elizabeth Munyweru  – P.C.I.O. (Rift Valley) 
16. Chairman  – Narok County Council 
17. Clerk  – County Council 
18. D.C. Hassan  – Narok District. 


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