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Forest
settlers now play hide and seek game
DAILY NATION
Story by JOSEPH KIMANI and MBURU MWANGI
Publication Date: 12/31/2005
What was expected to be a major
clash between security personnel and settlers at the Mau forest of
Narok district turned out to be much ado about nothing.
The settlers who returned after
being evicted five months ago, had left peacefully following a
government order to move out or be forcibly ejected.
But the Nation learnt that
most had only gone into hiding, intending to return after the
security personnel left.
Led by Mulot district officer
Hassan Burre, a contingent of about 40 armed officers arrived at
the forest at 2.30pm on Thursday to find nobody.
The settlers had returned to their
farms after a court ruling.
One of them, Mr Charles Kitur, said
he would leave the forest only for the grave. "I can only
move from this place to the grave," he vowed.
"The Government promised to
settle us after realising we had genuinely bought this land, but
it has not and we are losing patience."
Mr Kitur whom the Nation
found at his former shamba at the Nyamira Ndogo area,
explained that he was originally from Kapsabet which he left in
1999 after buying the forest land.
He is among hundreds of former
landowners who are now clandestinely cultivating the farms from
which they were evicted in July.
He and his colleagues are now
living in caves as they work on the farms to avoid arrest.
The DO said the Government did not
want to use force, and that this was why it had used all options,
including chiefs' barazas, to convince the settlers to voluntarily
leave the forest.
"We want them to be patient as
we look for a way to resettle them elsewhere," he said.
"Everyone knows the importance of these water catchment areas."
Out of the 2,000 families evicted
from the forest, only 285 have been resettled despite the
Government's promise to give land to all with genuine ownership
claims.
The 285 were given new land in
Nakuru district in early October.
Another settler, Mr William
Cheruiyot, who claims 30 acres, said the group had not built huts
so as not to draw the security agents' attention.
A survey by Nation shows
evidence of new heightened cultivation and logging in the forest.
Yesterday the government showed
that it was not taking chances as it sent more security officers
from Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) to beef up the surveillance in
the forest.
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