President William Ruto on Tuesday moved to address two key land conflicts in Narok County, the administration of the Maasai Mau forest, and the community stake in the conflict-ridden Kedong Ranch.
On Mau forest, President Ruto handed a title deed to Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu and promised the fencing of 100 kilometres, while on Kedong Ranch, he announced an additional 6,000 acres to hit 10,000 for the local community in one of the long-drawn land fights in the country.
"Mau Forest has, over the years, been turned into a political tool for politicians to gain political mileage. But during the campaigns, l told you,l will tackle the issue of Mau Forest once and for all," said President Ruto in Suswa.
"During the last General Election, my opponents then said, once l become President, l will allow illegal settlers to return to the Mau Forest. Today, I am here to assure you that nobody will be allowed back into the forest.
The Mau Forest Complex issue will never again be used by politicians for political mileage because it is an important water catchment area that should be properly conserved, “added President Ruto.
The thorny Mau Complex issue has, in the previous General Elections, been at the centre of national politics, with politicians using it as a rallying point for political mileage.
For decades, since the late 1990s, political leaders have been engaging in a blame game over conservation of the Mau Forest complex, one of the country’s major water towers.
Efforts by successive governments to stem the destruction of Mau Forest failed because of either a lack of commitment or the politics of the day.
However, President Ruto on Tuesday said that no illegal settlers will be allowed back into the forest after it was fenced using an electric fence by the government.
"Leaders will never again use the Mau Forest issue to create a wedge between the communities living in Narok County, “said Dr Ruto.
To boost the conservation of the forest, President Ruto announced that the national government has handed over the management of the Mau Forest to the Narok County Government.
"As part of our commitment to resolving the protracted Mau Forest dispute, I have handed over the title deed for the Mau Forest to the Narok County Government so that we end politics of the forest," said Ruto.
To support the transition, the President revealed that he has secured funding to complete the construction of a perimeter fence around the Mau Forest to prevent any future encroachment.
At the same time, President Ruto allocated an additional 6,000 acres of Kedong Ranch to the Maasai community in Narok County.
The expansive Kedong Ranch, part of which hosts critical infrastructure, such as the Naivasha Inland Dry Port, has been at the center of long standing disputes.
“You told me you wanted a share of Kedong Ranch. I’ve now used government money and purchased 6,000 acres to add to the 4,000 acres you already had, bringing the total to 10,000 acres,” said Ruto.
He revealed that beneficiaries of the land allocation would receive their title deeds within a week.
“Bring me the names of the intended title deed holders, and I will issue the documents once the list is complete. Within one week, the title deeds will be with you,” he pledged.
The Kedong Ranch has for years been a source of contention, with local leaders accusing powerful figures from previous administrations of attempting to grab the land.
President Ruto's move is seen as a bold bid to address the thorny land issue in the region, including concerns regarding the resettlement of those previously evicted from the Mau Forest.
His remarks come as thousands of Kenyans displaced from the Mau Forest during the 2019 evictions continue to live in temporary settlements in parts of Narok South, awaiting permanent resettlement.
The Mau Forest has always been a hot potato since 2005, when evictions from the country’s largest water complex soared relations between President Kibaki’s government and Kalenjin leaders.
In July 2005, the government made a hard decision to remove all beneficiaries who had title deeds for parcels of land, but because of the political matrix in preceding years, they were allowed back.
The destruction was so bad that between 2003 and 2005, Kenya’s biggest water tower was being wiped out at a devastating rate of 1,963 hectares per year.
By 2009, in the run-up to the 2013 polls, however, relations between the then Prime Minister and Kalenjin politicians broke, leading to a drift that has never been fully repaired.
However, Mr Odinga's fight to restore the Mau Forest complex punctured his political ambitions in 2013.
He was quoted saying he was ready to go and sell mandazi in Kibera, if that was the cost of conserving the forest.
By the end of 2009, when a detailed report on the Mau Forest was prepared, 7,889 households were in the water tower, with the number having grown before the 2013 and 2017 elections, when people swamped into the forest following what was seen as Jubilee’s laxity to let them in.
The first significant revelations of the heavy destruction and plunder of the Mau Forest were contained in the “Report of Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Task Force on the Conservation of the Mau Forest Complex” released in March 2009.
According to it, the extensive degradation was a result of encroachment, excision, and illegal extraction of forest resources.
The Mau Forest has long been at the heart of complex and often volatile land disputes, with conflicts over its ownership and boundaries persisting for decades.
In 2007, the government successfully evicted more than 35,000 illegal settlers.
In 2018 and 2019, more evictions from the forest were conducted by the government, targeting areas of Kass FM, Kosia, Nkoben, Ilmotiok, Ololulung'a, Ennoosokon, Nkaroni, Sisian, Kamwengoi, Siera Leone, and Kipchoge.
The evictions from the Mau Forest caused a sharp division between leaders from the Maasai and Kalenjin communities in Rift Valley, with the former backing the operation and the latter demanding the exercise be stopped.
During the 2022 polls, Ruto, then Deputy President, the region’s political kingpin, maintained that the forest must be conserved.
In 2018, Ruto’s attempt to support the government’s decision to evict settlers who had encroached on the forest in Narok South constituency backfired when a section of South Rift leaders disowned him.
Effects of plunder of the key water tower saw Rivers in the Mara basin, Lake Victoria basin, and the Nile basin, whose source is the forest almost dried up with a devastating impact on millions of people who depended on them and the national economy.
However, the government successfully reclaimed a larger section of the Mau Forest that had been encroached.
President Ruto also on Tuesday opened several development projects, including the Ewaso Nyiro Tannery and the Narok Town Kenya Medical Training College campus.
He also presided over the groundbreaking of Narok International Airport in Narok North and affordable houses in Kilgoris Town.
