Amid the ongoing standoff on Maasai Mau Forest evictions, an ODM senator has revealed the people who are fighting to prevent government eviction just to protect their commercial interests in he forest.
While the fight against the eviction has been speculated to be political, Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina has said senior Government officials from previous regimes hived off parts of the Mau for tea plantations and illegal activities such as logging.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with KTN News on a show dubbed KTNPointBlank aired on Wednesday night, Ole Kina claimed the politicians, including former permanent secretaries and MPs, brought in people to use as cheap labour.
The people then opted to settle there and earn extra income by plundering forest resources because they were being paid peanuts, he alleged.
His utterances coincide with Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko’s remarks that powerful individuals would soon be arrested after Government completes investigations into the encroachment of 14,000ha in the Mau.
“Those people who own huge chunks of land brought in labourers to do the illegal activities for them, for example planting tea and logging. Since they were paid peanuts, these people also got into activities such as logging and burning charcoal,” he said.
The senator dismissed claims that the settlers possessed title deeds and that some genuinely bought land there. He said they were instead being used as “human shields” through the creation of a “human misery” narrative so that the rich politicians could continue with their illegal businesses.
“Show me those poor people. Show me one who can produce a title deed and say I bought the land from so and so through the correct process,” asked Kina.
“Those corrupt and unscrupulous powerful people who worked in government are the ones who are now using the poor people as shields because they do not want to be evicted from the Mau, they want to continue using it for logging.”
Kina said some of the richest people in Narok had made their living from logging in the Mau.
He said the illegal activity was still going on and accused forest authorities for abetting it through corruption.The water tower spans several counties with Narok being one of them.
