12,000 families to be evicted from forest land

By Osinde Obare

The Government is set to recover more than 50,000 acres of forest land that has allegedly been encroached by 12,000 families in Pokot County.

A team of surveyors erected beacons at the expansive Lelan Forest causing panic among residents.

The team completed work last week after spending a month to determine boundaries of the forest, which Kenya Forest Service (KFS) claims residents have illegally settled on it.

But residents denied the claims and said they settled on the land legally after a survey conducted in 1990 by the Government showed that the forestland was intact.

Survey

Pokot KFS zonal manager Gabriel Kariuki confirmed that survey work has been conducted to establish the boundaries of the forest.

"It is true the team has been on the ground for the last couple of days to search and erect beacons on the boundaries of the forest

before necessary action is taken," said Mr Kariuki.

A former Pyrethrum Board of Kenya director Stephen Yakan, said more than 10,000 acres of land under the crop would be lost if the Government evicts the families.

The affected areas are Tapach, Sondany, Lelan, Mwieno and Cheptalel locations in Pokot South District.

Mr Yakan said the Government conducted a similar survey on the forest in 1990 and did not recommend evictions.

Local leaders led by Information and Communication Minister Samuel Poghisio and Kenya Films Censorship Board Managing Director David Kposing warned that the evictions would lead to a standoff between the residents and the Government.

"It would be disastrous should the Government go ahead to evict these people from the farmers. These affected areas are major suppliers of food to entire Pokot County," said Mr Poghisio.

Yakan said apart from pyrethrum production, the residents engage in dairy farming, plant potatoes and vegetables.

Records show that the local Land Adjudication Department has enlisted the residents for issuance of title deeds after adjudication work that was carried out five years ago.

Efforts by the Government to recover forest land have in the past met resistance from residents and leaders among them politicians. One of the biggest of such moves, the effort to recover and rehabilitate the Mau forest have developed into a prolonged debate.