Return to your original home, Mau evictees in Kuresoi told

More than 1,000 families who left Maasai Mau Forest have been ordered to vacate private land in Chepakundi where they have been camping on the border of Nakuru and Narok counties.

They have now vowed to trek to Molo town, more than 70 kilometres away, to set up another camp.

The government has issued an eviction notice to more than 10,000 families to voluntarily leave the critical water tower by October 31, failure to which they will be forcibly be evicted.

According to the latest government statistics, more than 3,000 families have voluntarily vacated the 17,101 acres of land in the Mau Forest complex ahead of the looming evictions.

MOVE ORDER

On Sunday, a security team from Kuresoi South Sub-County visited their camp and ordered them to pack their belongings and return to their original homes.

Children, some as young as one year, pregnant mothers and the elderly, hurriedly left the temporary camp with the few belongings they could afford to carry on their shoulders and sought temporary shelter at Chepakundi shopping centre.

“We are being treated as if we have committed economic crimes yet we never invaded Mau Forest. We bought land from ranch owners in Narok and if they were selling us forest land then government should pursue these criminals walking freely in Narok town,” said a sobbing mother.

The families who voluntarily left Maasai Mau Forest have been staying at a one-acre piece of land that is earmarked for the building of a church by the land owner, Mr Samuel Tonui.

MEETING

On Sunday, Kuresoi Deputy County Commissioner Patrick Mwangi held a meeting with Mr Harrison Lang’at, the son of the land owner the where the families have been camping.

“These families must go back to where they came from as instructed and should not camp here.

“We have been lenient on these families and they should now proceed to their original homes and if there will be any compensation they will be traced from wherever they are,” said Mr Mwangi.

Mr Tonui said that he had donated the land he had allowed the families to put makeshift tents on to a church.

SUFFERING

“I saw suffering children, women and the elderly walk past my homestead and I decided to give them a place to put a temporary shelter,” said Mr Tonui.

A victim, Mr Joseph Cheruiyot, said it was wrong for the families to be treated like refugees in their own country.

“This place is very cold and we shall go and camp in Molo until the government hears our plea,” said Mr Cheruiyot.

Their spokesman, Mr Richard Kiprono, said the camp is in a deplorable state as there is no clean water or toilets.

“The families are now at risk of contracting diseases such as cholera as there are no toilets and clean water at Chepakundi trading centre where they have moved to,” said Mr Cheruiyot.

PUPILS OUT OF SCHOOL

Ms Angelica Moraa, a volunteer teacher at one of the schools in Maasai Mau and which has been closed, said that hundreds of pupils are no longer learning and are idling at the trading centre.

“The future of hundreds of children is now bleak as there are no schools here,” she said.

Mr Janet Langat said many children at the camp are sick due to harsh weather conditions.

Mr Joel Chepkwnoy, a church elder, urged the government to address the plight of the families moving out of the water tower.

A resident, Reuben Kimng’eno Langat, faulted the government for ordering them to move out of their temporary camp without giving them an alternative place to go.

“The land they are camping on is private and the government should not interfere with the gesture of a Good Samaritan who has been touched by the plight of the suffering families,” said Mr Lang’at.