[Source: Daily Nation, by Justus Wanga]
The relationship between Kenya and the African Union (AU) is being tested after the Jubilee administration failed to comply with an order to stop the eviction of 60,000 families who had illegally settled in Mau forest.
The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), an agency of the AU, has threatened to report Nairobi at the next ordinary session of the AU commission.
The commission had in November last year given the government 15 days to stop the process pending hearing and determination of complaints filed by the settlers.
The commission also ordered the government to refrain from any action that could have interfered with or threatened the rights of the settlers.
In an open letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the commission’s chairman Solomon Ayele Dersso warned the government that the evictions were a cause of concern and would constitute violation of the African Charter as well as other regional and international human rights standards.
The government not only refused to respond to the order but on Thursday issued an edict, through Rift Valley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya, warning the evictees against buying land within a 10-kilometre radius of the forest.
Mr Natembeya claimed those buying land for the evictees had hatched a scheme to undermine the government’s efforts to restore the forest.
In September last year, the government gave the settlers a 60-day notice to leave the water tower to pave the way for the restoration of the complex.
The targeted area was land on which sits five ranches that are believed to have been illegally extended. The land is targeted for reclamation to restore the water tower that affects the lives of about 10 million people.
In their complaint, the affected families – through the Centre for Comparative and International Law and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa – had expressed fear that they would suffer irreparable damage if the eviction was carried out.
The families asked the commission to invoke Rule 98 and issue provisional measures to prevent the eviction, arguing that it portends irreparable harm to them should it be carried out.
[Full article: Daily Nation, by Justus Wanga]
