One of the beneficiaries of the Mau forest land declared on Friday that he will not give it up.
Mr Hosea Kiplagat, a businessman and nephew of former President Daniel arap Moi, said he would only relinquish the 20-hectare piece if he was compensated. “I was given the land legally as a Kenyan. I have a right to stay on the land until I am compensated,” he said.
And Mr Gideon Moi, the son of the former president, denied owning land in the Mau and said that the inclusion of his name in the report was meant to silence him for defending the ordinary people settled on the forest land.
“I see this as a diversionary tactic to silence some of us who have been speaking for the people of Mau. I would like to assure the people of Mau that I would continue to vigorously articulate their interests,” he said.
The two questioned the decision by the task force to investigate the allocations in the forest, that is a major water catchment, and leave out names of other beneficiaries. They claimed that there was a political scheme to tarnish their integrity.
Mr Kiplagat said members of the Nyakinyua dancing group, who would entertain the founding father of the nation, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, were also beneficiaries of the land, yet they were not mentioned.
He claimed that the list of beneficiaries was selective and meant to hit at those linked to the retired President.
They were responding to a report in Friday’s Daily Nation which revealed 25 names of powerful individuals who were allocated more than 500 hectares of Mau forest land.
Among those who were allocated more than 20 hectares, the report said, were Mr Moi, Baringo Central MP Sammy Mwaita who was Lands commissioner at the time, Kuresoi MP and former powerful PS Zakayo Cheruiyot, former Moi private secretary Joshua Kulei and former nominated MP Mark Too.
Elsewhere, Kalenjin MPs backed the Mau settlers as their Maasai counterparts called for their eviction.
Speaking in Parliament Buildings, Kalenjin MPs led by Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu) and Julius Kones (Konoin) trashed the report, saying no one should be evicted from the resource. However, their Maasai counterparts, including Narok South’s Nkoidila ole Lankas, demanded that the government moves fast to remove the settlers.
In Eldoret, former nominated MP Mark Too denied that he owns land in Mau forest. Mr Too said he has never been interested in land in the forest and would not have taken such an offer. “If I was given any land without my knowledge, then I am willing to surrender it,” he said.
Roads minister Franklin Bett took issue with the leakage of the report before Prime Minister Raila Odinga could discuss it with other leaders. The Mau issue, he said, needed to be discussed with sobriety.
The 21-member task force that was appointed in July last year to find sustainable ways of conserving the forest, want all settlers within the Mau Forest Complex moved. Only settlers with genuine documentation should be compensated or resettled, the task force recommends.
