News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo

Five members of Parliament from the Rift Valley over the weekend expressed their total rejection of a task force team recently appointed by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga to look into the intended eviction of thousands of settler’s allocated land in the Mau Forest complex by the previous KANU and Narc regimes.

The MPs all mainly from Raila Odinga’s ODM party made a specific demand that two officials be removed from the list of task force members.

Led by the youthful Kipkellion MP Mageror Lang’at, the legislators said they would not accept nor recognize recommendations of the said task force .They further claim that a Mr.Lumumba Odenda of the Kenya Land Alliance and human rights activist Charles Ole Sena would not give residence a fair chance to give their views.

The five legislators were speaking at Mogogosiek Trading Centre in Bureti District during the Konoin Road Race in which the residents participated in the “running to conserve Mau Forest”

Lang’at on his part wondered why the government appointed the two yet it knew it pretty well the two have been the league with those fighting for the eviction of settlers from the Mau Complex.

The running to conserve Mau Forest programme was organized by the area MP Dr.Julius Kones and MPs vowed to remove the two officials they suspected to be collaborating with those out to maginalize the Kipsigis community, especially its members living diaspora Mau Forest included.

Dr.Kones told the gathering that the MPs from the region have informed the Prime Minister of their displeasure with the two and the position they have taken.

“This is something the government needs to address before the task force begins the deliberation and extensive tour of the areas affected” said Dr.Kones. We will not be party to their findings and recommendations” he added.

Kones said the communities living around Mau Forest have been at the forefront of environmental conservation and wondered why the state was blaming them for destroying the water tower?

Among the speakers was Energy Assistant Minister Charles Keter who categorically denied that there was acute shortage of water to generate electricity including the multibillion shillings Sondu-Miriu Hydro Power project and urged politicians to stop politicking the project.

Keter said he had personally visited the project site and saw there was enough water to generate electricity. It only needs to be commissioned ” he said .

Other MPs who addressed the gathering included Chepalungu MP Issac Ruto who said that those settlers set to evict out of Mau Complex would not move until the government compensate them.

“Most of these settlers in Mau had already sold their ancestral land in the former larger Kericho district and went Mau to try the land at the invitation of the previous governments . He wondered why the same government of Kenya now wants to kick them out of the legally acquired land.

Meanwhile four minority communities of forest dwellers have accused the grand coalition government of intimidating them over its plan to evict them from the forest where they have been dwelling from time immemorable.

The communities which comprise the ogiek,Yiaku,Ogiik and Sengwet said the palnned Mau Forest evictions were the beginning of a major ejection exercise the government intends to carry in all the forests.

Mr.James Koinare of the Yiaku Peoples Association has warned his sub-tribes men and other communities would move to count to bar the government from interfering with their affairs.

In Kenya, especially in the expensive Rift Valley Province there are a good numbers of Forest dwelling Communities. The communities living in government forests are commonly called “Ndorobos”. They include Ogiek,Ogiise,Yiaku and Sengwet. Ndorobo are also found in parts of Taita Hills at the Coast Province where they are called Oriangulos.

In the Rift Valley the “Ndorobos ” dwells in the indigenous
. They don’t till the land or keep livestock, but their livelihoods revolve around hunting small game animals(antelopes,) bee-keeping and gathering of wild fruits and herbs for food and medicine.

These forest dwellers are found in many places ,but huge numbers inhabit the controversial Mau forest complex, Mukogodo, Mt.Elgon, Ndoinet and Cherangany forest in the Rift valley Province.

The government has now ordered communities to vacate the forest or be forcefully evicted, but the communities are now threatening to sue the government over the planned evictions.

The “Ndorobos” forest dwellers have lived in the places mentioned ever since the colonial times when they were classifies by the British colonialists as untouchable people.

They posed no threat to the ecosystem and environmental degradation since they are not involved in land cultivation nor contribution of permanent houses to schools or keeping domesticated livestock but depends entirely on the forests resources like honey-bees, wild fruits and hunting of small antelopes

The “Ndorobos” Ogiek have expressed concern that their people were among the targeted group in the 400,000 hectares Mau Forest water tower evictions.

“The Ogiek are on the verge of being thrown out of Mau Forest and we fear that we may soon follow suit said a spokes person of the Yiaku community.

While another spokesman Mr.Daudi Leboo of the Ogiek said his comminuty should be allowed to continue living inMau Forest since they contribute a lot in conservation and have no other home . the communities have also called for their inclusion in the national forest and land governance structures.

“We have been sidelined for along time leading to our under development: said Mr. Joseph Kakweitu a member of the Ogiek.

Most of the “Ndorobos” or Ogiek are the concoctions from the various Kalenjin larger ethnic groups. These are the people who flatly refused to come out of the forest in the late 19th and 20th century when the British colonialists invaded Kenya and made the country a British protectorate colony. They have seen no light in terms of modern life and very few of their Children came out of the forest to go to schools

Ends

Leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

– – –
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:35:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: FOREST DWELLERS SAYS THEY ARE NOT MOVING OUT OF MAU COMPLEX AS RIFT VALLEY MPS REJECT RAILA APPOINTED TASK FORCE TEAM