The East African Standard (Nairobi)

Kipchumba Kemei
Nairobi

The ongoing destruction of the Mau catchment area is threatening the survival of over three million people, a lobby has said.

The group said if the destruction was not checked, tourism activities in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem would also suffer.


The Indigenous Peoples Land Commission said the livelihood of the Maasai and Ogiek communities, who depend on these resources, was also in jeopardy.

Addressing the Press after an extensive tour of Mau forest, commission officials led by chairman Charles Sena and deputy Jackson Kamuye said the destruction was creating poverty.

The officials said the people of Narok District were suffering partly because of failure by the Government to end the destruction and poor and uninformed leadership.

They said local leaders were condoning the destruction by using land as a political tool, oblivious to the consequences.

The commission said it was surprised that even members of the provincial administration, including a serving District Commissioner and a Member of Parliament, were involved in the plunder.

The group demanded that all beneficiaries of forest land be evicted and asked the DC, Mr John Egesa, to immediately disband the current district environmental committee, which they claimed was abetting the destruction.

They asked the Narok County Council to establish, identify and mark boundaries of Trust land and settlement areas to deter encroachment.

Council Clerk Stanslous Ondimo said more than 2,000 acres of forest and Trust land had been hived off and beneficiaries issued with title deeds.

Ondimo said all allocations were illegally done in 1998.

Meanwhile, a visiting official from the Netherlands Centre for Indigenous People responsible for African affairs, Ms Ruth Jansen, said the ongoing scramble for Mau forest was incredible as it was displacing indigenous people who have a constitutional right to own homes.

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