[Source: The Standard, by Steve Mkawale]
Settlers occupying 67,500 acres of land excised from the Mau Forest Complex have asked the State to lift a ban on land transactions in the 22 settlement schemes.
In a meeting held in Nakuru at the weekend and attended by representatives from at least 11 settlements schemes, they said the caveat imposed on their parcels of land in 2013 to date has created uncertainty over ownership of land and is responsible for hostility among communities living in the schemes.
“The areas under the settlement schemes are undeveloped and thus causing unfair distribution of resources by both the national and county governments,” said Philip Rotich, a resident of Mauche in Nakuru County.
The meeting attended by Kuresoi South MP Joseph Tonui and the Nakuru County Assembly Speaker Samwuel Kipkemoi attracted representatives from Neisuet, Marioshoni, Sigotik, Teret, Sururu, Ngongengeri, Mauche, Tinet, Masai Mau and South West Mau forest settlement schemes.
It came a few months after members of the Ogiek claiming ownership of the forest as their ancestral land had recommended to a task force to implement the decision of the African Court on their land rights in Mau Forest issued in May 2017.
In a petition to the task force chaired by Dr Robert Kibugi in February this year, Daniel Kobei called on the Government to cancel all title deeds issued within the 14 blocks of Mau Complex in the counties of Nakuru, Narok, Kericho, Baringo, Uasin Gishu and Nandi.
However, at the Nakuru meeting on Saturday, Wesley Munyereri, representing a faction of the Ogiek, said those allocated land should be issued with individual titles and not a communal deed as advocated by the minority group.
The caveat has seen the filing of several unresolved court cases that have made it difficult for the Government to lift the caveat.
Robert Lengoita, a representative of settlers in Masai Mau, called on those behind the court cases to withdraw them as a sign of goodwill.
[Full article: The Standard, by Steve Mkawale]
