Premium
UN envoy: Kenya should compensate Ogiek for Mau evictions
Members of the Ogiek community on February 10, 2025 during a presser in Nakuru City display records of land ruling by the East African Court of Justice delivered in 2017 in Arusha, Tanzania. They opposed the division of land and instead want the government to allocate them a community title deed.
A United Nations rapporteur has raised concerns on the Kenyan government's defiance of court orders on compensating the Ogiek, a forest-dwelling community who were evicted from the Mau Forest.
In a communique, Mr Albert Barume, a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, cautioned the Kenyan government over its continued non-compliance and disregard of the orders of the African Court on Human and People's rights issued in 2017 and 2022.
The judgments affirm the Ogiek’s ownership of their ancestral lands and ask for their restitution.
Members of the Ogiek community during a presser in Nakuru City on February 10, 2025. They opposed the division of land at the foot of Mau Forest to each of their members and instead want the government to allocate them community land.
Mr Barume said that the Kenyan government was yet to act on orders to return Ogiek communal lands and has instead disregarded the African Court’s judgment, which includes the ongoing demarcation of the Eastern Mau Complex, threatening the ancestral lands of the Ogiek.
“These actions risk causing irreparable harm to the Ogiek’s land rights,” he said.
The UN Special Rapporteur questioned the September 2024 ruling, delivered by the Kenya’s Environment and Land Court in Nakuru, which dismissed the Ogiek’s claims to their ancestral lands in East Mau.
The decision, he said, contradicted the decision by the Arusha-based African Court.
"From December 2024 to April 2025, the government convened a series of public forums to discuss how to implement the Nakuru court ruling, criticised as exclusionary and politically driven," stated Mr Barume.
He warned that the decision threatens the rights of more than 8,500 Ogiek people in Nessuit, Mariashoni, and Sururu, and endangers ecologically sensitive areas vital for water catchment sustainability.
Members of the Ogiek community participate in a peaceful protest in Molo, Nakuru County on December 9, 2024 over a land dispute.
Mr Barume also faulted the decision by President William Ruto to issue title deeds for a 250,000 acre parcel of land for parts of the Maasai Mau Forest to Narok County. This, he said, alarmed the Ogiek Community members of Sasimwani, who remain displaced following their evictions in 2023.
Reacting to the Statement, Ogiek People's Development Executive Director Daniel Kobei said that the government needs to show commitment in implementing the African Court's decision.
He said the community is disappointed about the government’s plans to issue title deeds to individuals instead of a community title.
According to Mr Kobei, the government, during Wednesday’s session in Arusha, did not give any evidence to prove its compliance with the two judgments.
"None of the orders have been complied with but the Kenyan government has instead implemented the judgment of the Nakuru court issued in 2024 in disregard of the orders of the African Court, which were issued earlier," he added.
An Ogiek elder addresses journalists after a peaceful protest in Molo, Nakuru County on December 9, 2024.
Mt Kobei said the government should stop using forest conservation as an excuse of not repatriating them to the forest.
"We protected the forest for many years from destruction and it will be unfair to claim that we are going to destroy it. If anything, let the government monitor how we use the forest," he added as he called for dialogue to ensure implementation of the judgments.
