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Squatters flee Mau as evictions
resume
The Standard
Thursday July 7, 2005
By Kipchumba
Kemei and Stephen Makabila
Squatters continued
to flee Nkaroni area of Mau yesterday in the latest eviction in
the catchment area.
This comes barely
two weeks after it the evictions were temporarily stopped for
unexplained reasons.
Security personnel
including APs, Rapid Deployment Unit and Narok County Council
rangers started pulling down structures in the morning forcing
residents to flee to Sogoo, Mulot, Tendwet and Ole Mekenyu trading
centres. By yesterday afternoon, only smoke from charred remains
of the houses could be seen.
The eviction has
raised protests from Narok South leaders.
Area councillors
led by Kipkose Rotich of Sogoo ward described the eviction as a
violation of law because it contravenes a court order stopping the
exercise.
They claimed
Nkaroni area was formerly a group ranch.
"The
Government should call off the exercise because some areas where
people are being kicked out were adjudicated many years ago,"
they said.
Earlier, security personnel prevented evictees from accessing
their former farms to harvest.
Meanwhile, two
relief agencies continued to aid the victims.
Unicef donated
3,000 exercise books, pens and other learning equipment, while the
Red Cross Society gave blankets and utensils.
Narok DC Hassan Farah said the Government has donated Sh800,000 to
schools.
He appealed for
more assistance.
Elsewhere in the
North Rift, residents have vowed to resist planned eviction of
squatters from two forests in Uasin-Gishu District.
Led by former Kenya
Co-operative Creameries (KCC) Director Wilson Kipkazi, former
international athlete Julius Kitur and an Eldoret-based land
surveyor Eliud Yego, they said no person would be moved.
"What has
happened in Mau will not be extended here. The Government should
not make its own people live like refugees," Kipkazi told a
press conference in Eldoret.
They claimed there
were plans to evict people from the Ndugulu and Turbo forests in
Eldoret South and Eldoret North constituencies of Uasin-Gishu
District.
The Government,
they said, had legally allocated the two forests to more than
5,000 families.
Narc Government was
told to respect allocations done by Kanu to avoid similar
revocations by subsequent governments.
"Land
ownership is a sensitive matter," the said.
The speakers gave
Kimunya 14 days to cancel the planned evictions or brace himself
for a major showdown.
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