Mau evictees face a Christmas full of misery, uncertainty
Tension, sorrow, hunger and hopelessness. This sums up the lives of Mau evictees since they were kicked out of the trust lands adjacent to the water tower two months ago.
Sounds of hammer meeting nail on wood reverberate throughout the day around Olmekenyu and Tendwet in Narok South Constituency; families are in different stages of constructing their houses, seeking a fresh start.
In August 2019, the government announced plans to remove about 60,000 people from Nkoben, Sierra Leon, Kosia, Septonok and other areas in Mau, where some people had been duped into buying land and given title deeds.
Whereas there is consensus to conserve the forest that sustains 12 million livelihoods, the government is on the spot not only for the evictions without compensation, but also for failing to prosecute local government officials, politicians, and private surveyors who, in 1999, fraudulently expanded the group ranches far beyond their registered areas and sold the land to unsuspecting outsiders.
Although then-Narok County Commissioner George Natembeya gave the families 60 days to allow students to sit their national exams, the heavy presence of rangers from the Kenya Forest Service and Kenya Wildlife Service, who were later backed up by police, asking them to begin dismantling their houses, kept tensions high.
Some evictions took place before the grace period ended.
CHILDREN'S PLIGHT
Many evictees did not salvage anything from what they termed as ruthless expulsions from the place they had called home for years.
Each family hurriedly gathered its children and fled to safety from where they watched their houses burnt or flattened by other means, impoverishing them instantly.
Dejected, they found salvation in community leaders who bought them about 26 acres of land in various wards in Narok South for temporary resettlement.
They were also given six iron sheets each, although majority are yet to benefit.
The Olmekenyu land is only six acres but over 500 households are angling for space to put up a shelter.
With the unforgiving winds and cold that characterises the area, young, emaciated, innocent children are seen shivering in light clothing and stuffed noses, too stiff from hunger and cold to even play. They are paying for the sins of their elders and greedy leaders.
A number of victims offered to take us around the camp and see first-hand the pitiful conditions of their new homes.
REDUCED TO PAUPERS
The houses are dark even in daylight and smell of fresh red clay. Most have scanty household materials.
Mr Joel Langat welcomes us into his half-roofed and doorless house. He is folding away the bedding he had spread on the muddy floor over sacks meant to prevent water seepage.
The father of eight used to own a 10-acre farm in Kitoben — two-acre orchard, two acres of beans, three of maize with the rest being grazing land.
“Uniformed officers descended on our house and my children ran away. From the farm, I heard the commotion and rushed to find the unfriendly officers. When I saw them advancing towards me, I fled. That was the last time I saw my two houses and a canteen,” says the distraught 60-year-old.
“I have distributed my children to various relatives because we can’t all share this cubicle. We beg for food and clothes and neighbours here have been kind to us,” he says.
He has a daughter who did her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in the troubled environment and managed 180 out of 500 marks.
Amid the confusion, he is yet to know which school she will join come January.
HEALTH CHALLENGES
We meet a barefoot Mrs Veronica Rotich carrying a bundle of thick sticks to be used to make a wall for her house. She has tired eyes.
Although she has a lump of pain in her throat, she summons the power to tell us how she fears for the future of her nine children, none of whom is in secondary school yet.
The ejection has made life terrible for the middle-aged woman whose two sons are autistic.
But she is overwhelmed by homelessness, hunger and uncertainty about the future.
She half-heartedly leaves the two boys in a “Good Samaritan’s” house when she comes to try and complete building her house.
“Once done, I will collect all my children spread out in various homes so we can all stay in this house,” she says. Not all will fit in there, not unless they sleep in turns.
Suddenly, there is an anxious silence when a raving engine is heard.
A number of men who were part of the crowd that milled around to tell their story rush to the road to check what is happening.
BATTLING TERROR
Meanwhile, one of them asks us in a hushed tone, “Do you have your licence (press cards)? When we suddenly break into a run, will you have to come with us or you will just flash the licence?” It is a confusing moment.
Apparently, the government wants the evictees to vacate the six-acre Olmekenyu land because “setting up a crowded camp would give President Uhuru Kenyatta a bad name”.
Narok County Commissioner Samuel Kimiti has sternly warned them against constructing the slum-like structures.
Narok South Deputy County Commissioner Felix Kisalu and the chiefs have been frequenting the area and giving orders.
They want each household to own not less than an eighth of an acre, and the rest to find settlement in other areas. These poor people can’t afford that.
“We live in so much fear. We build while watching our backs. Each time we hear a Land Cruiser, we run away before the officers terrorise us,” says Mr Wesly Changwony, who came from Tebeswet village.
“Why is the government so bitter with us? What did we wrong them? They hate us, no wonder they disregarded our title deeds,” he murmurs. “They will have to kill us first before we leave the camp.”
SANITATION
We all breathe a sigh of relief when the men return and assure us that it was the forest guards’ car, which was stuck in mud. “Those are harmless,” they say.
At first, the chiefs demanded that the families must have enough toilets and water.
After that, they issued a letter to the initial owner, an unsigned document allegedly from the National Environmental Management Authority, questioning him on why there was an unauthorised change of use of his land.
They warned him that he would be held responsible for any disease outbreak or humanitarian crisis. Those in the 20-acre Tendwet camp have also received the same demands.
The chairman said about 80 families have settled as others continue to stream in.
Those who had rented rooms at local centres have run out of money and come to the camps.
NO PAYOUT
When contacted, the County Commissioner insisted there are no camps, and there would be no compensation of evictees.
“The evictees integrated with the people. Everybody who was in Mau came from a particular place, so that narrative is there. If there are those who sold their original lands and have nowhere to go, the government doesn’t have that information,” he said in a phone interview.
When we said that we had visited the camps he said: “What we are saying is that anybody who is trying to make a camp is an illegal. And we have told them as much.”
Local leaders have, however, defended the camps as a way of giving the families a temporary resettlement as they think of a way of helping them.
They called on the President to intervene and Kenyans of goodwill to support the evictees.
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