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The politics of Mau Reforestation

Split between maintaining the status quo and saving the Mau forest, the Kenyan government has chosen the route of political turmoil but of ecosystem restoration.

By ODUOR JAGERO
Published August 10, 2009

Mau Forest

Her trees are tall and towering, the undergrowth is thick, and the birds sing beautifully; the rains that fell days ago are retained on her heavy and virgin foliage and her children – the monkeys – chatter while jumping from one twig to the other.

This is one side of Mau Forest Complex.

Her other side is a vast and bald hill devoid of trees, cut down by loggers. Shrubs malnourished and on the verge of death sprout feebly, stumps of cut down trees bare their teeth just around dots of human settlements. Huge gullies barrow down the hillsides and the sound of tractors scuttling with fresh timber gives the picture of a forest invaded by one foe: human.

It is against this background of ‘Nature Rape’ that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has mounted a spirited effort to relocate the human occupation so that the Mau, Kenya’s biggest water catchment and ecosystem, can be saved.

Mau forest tree stump

But the issue of Mau Forest has slipped from being a big conservation issue to a huge political gamble. This, pundits say, is because big people both outside and inside the government got huge tracts of land from Mau and some of them have since erected huge mansions and ranches.

And as the government gears itself to compensate and relocate the ‘legitimate squatters’, as well as reforest Mau at a whooping cost of more than KES 38 billion ($500 million), Kenya’s Environment Minister Mr. John Michuki and Forestry Minister Dr. Noah Wekesa, say that only the legitimate 1,962 families are entitled to compensation.

Kenya Land Alliance Director Lumumba Odenda says rehabilitating the 273300 hectares Mau will reclaim dried rivers such as Ewaso Nyiro, which have had a big impact on key sectors of the economy such as water, agriculture, energy, and tourism. But he thinks that blanket compensation would be likely misconstrued as rewarding individuals who got land illegally and condoning corruption.

“Whereas it would be justifiable to compensate third party buyers of parcels within Mau, people who got theirs through patronage and without paying a cent have no business expecting a dime from the state,” Odenda says.

Odenda’s school of thought perhaps tells why Mau saga has snowballed into a political game of great magnitude. While it is true that there are poor Kenyans whose cases are strong and need attention before Mau’s rehabilitation, the ‘big shots’ that were rewarded are afraid to lose their invaluable rewards.

In August 2008 a task force set up by Mr. Odinga found that 27,523 parcels of land were taken out of the 61,586.5 hectares that the government had excised from Mau Complex through legal notices published on October 19, 2001.

On examination of such registries the team of experts unearthed that of the 27,523 parcels; only 18,649 are titled with 5,888 parcels, close to 32 percent having been titled before legal notices published on October 19, 2000.

Mau forest

Mr. Odinga has been seen to put his political survival on the line by taking on the Rift Valley big wigs and saying: “I am ready to sacrifice my political career to save Mau.” Some of the people that are likely to face the wrath of Mr. Odinga are Roads Minister Franklin Bett and Zakayo Cheruyot. The former was a powerful permanent secretary for Internal Security during President Daniel Arap Moi’s era.

Shortly before Mr. Odinga toured Nyanza Province a few weeks ago, a group of 18 MPs led by Rift Valley Cabinet Ministers William Ruto, Franklin Bett, and Hellen Sambili gathered to voice their concerns against what they termed as ‘eviction’ instead of relocation as Mr. Odinga has always referred to it.

“It is against the rules of natural justice to evict people from their settlements even if they were squatters.” Ruto said.

But even in the same meeting there seemed to be inconsistency. Charles Keter added: “We are for conservation of the Mau and we want peaceful movement of our people and not eviction. Michuki should know that the Mau issue is not like the Mungiki (purge) and therefore must be handled differently.”

But Mr. Odinga has stuck to his guns. Recently in an interview with The Star Newspaper, he said: “These cheap politics must stop. Mau is a matter of life and death. All Kenyans, even those in Rift Valley are suffering and it is sad that some people want to make political capital out of this.”

The premier has equated the cat and mouse politics about Mau to a case of a child playing with fire. “It is like seeing a child play with fire. Do you let the child burn? Those playing politics with Mau are playing with fire. It will consume all of us if we do not act now,” Mr. Odinga warned.

Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai has since bolstered Mr. Odinga’s clarion call on Mau through a movement called Enough is Enough, a campaign that seeks signatures from people who would want to see Mau restored again.

She says impunity has taken root with government officials commissioning putting of structures on wet lands.

According to the ministry of environment and mineral resources, Mau Forest Complex is listed as a number one provider of water supply to urban areas and millions of people living in rural areas.

Mr. Odinga’s fight is a follow-up of the ministry’s historical stakeholder’s consultative workshop on July 15, 2008. A task force was then formed and gazzeted on July 31, 2008 with a mandate to formulate recommendations to the government for the restoration of all degraded blocks of forest and critical water catchment areas within the Mau Forest Complex. It was also to mobilize local and international resources to implement its objectives and to secure the sustainability of the entire ecosystem of the Mau Forest Complex.

The battle has been fierce and it now appears that both parties are slowly coming to terms. The biggest task for the PM’s office is to get funding for rehabilitation from like-minded organizations such as European Union, that a few days ago had a two- hour aerial tour of the Mau Forest Complex.

Mr. Odinga’s problem now lies on the elder of the Ogiek community, Mr. Kipkurui Paul Terer. “I can never leave this place. Where do I go?” Mr. Terer recently asked a Reuters reporter.

“We have lived with our neighbors in peace but now the government tells us that we must go,” he adds.

Benjamin Lagat, a squatter says: “We will fight. We will all die here.”

Reach Oduor Jagero at koduor@eafricainfocus.com