The Ogiek community has accused the government of using illegal tactics to exclude them from their ancestral land in the Mau Forest Complex.
Community leaders claim the government is rushing to validate the settlement of thousands of people in Kapsita, Ngongogeri, Likia, Sururu, Saino, Kiptagich, Ndoinet and Tinet areas whose titles were revoked following the Paul Ndung’u land report.
Ogiek Council of Elders Chairperson, John Lobolo, termed the move a deliberate attempt to evade compliance with two rulings by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha.
He further alleged that the government is bringing in non-Ogiek settlers from Bomet, Kericho and Transmara, undermining the rights of the indigenous community.
Speaking in Nakuru, Ogiek leaders from six counties expressed frustration, stating that the government had sought a three-month extension, expiring today, to file a compliance report on court-mandated settlement and reparations. Instead, they claim, the government has used this period to sabotage the ruling by legitimizing illegal settlements.
The leaders also opposed the government’s plan to subdivide the land into five-acre plots per individual, insisting that the court directed the issuance of a single communal title deed to safeguard the Ogiek’s cultural heritage.
Francis Maritim, representing the Ogiek from Kericho, accused Lands Principal Secretary of forming a task force on Mau Forest Complex settlement, led by Nakuru County Commissioner Lyod Kibaara, that excluded the Ogiek.
Fred Ngusilo from Narok questioned why the government prioritized settling people in East Mau while ignoring Ogiek families who have been homeless for over a year since their eviction from the Mau Forest Complex.
The leaders further called for the removal of individuals flocking to trading centres in Naruashoni, Nessuit, and Tinet, claiming they had been promised land in Mau.
Community elders demanded full inclusion through public participation and the swift implementation of court rulings to end decades of displacement and suffering that began in the 1980s when the government first encroached on their land under the guise of resettlement.
