Source: Wild Forests: [email protected]

By MUCHEMI WACHIRA

Surveyors were busy demarcating Hombe Forest in Mt
Kenya yesterday (18 March) despite a ruling by the High Court
stopping the government from excising 167,000 acres of
forest land.

The High Court sitting in Eldoret ordered Mr Nyenze
last Thursday to stop hiving off forest land in Rift
Valley and Central provinces.

Yesterday, however, surveyors continued to survey the
Hombe Forest at the foot of Mount Kenya, with armed
police from Kiamariga Police Station keeping guard.

All the beacons marking the boundaries that residents
of the neighbouring Sagana Settlement Scheme uprooted
have been re-erected. They replaced them with branches
of cedar trees.

Lady Justice Roselyne Nambuye suspended the minister's
legal notices in the Kenya Gazette of February 16
following an application filed under a certificate of
urgency by environmental advocate Nixon Sifuna.

Police also arrested the chairman of Sagana Wildlife
Protection Self Help Group, Mr Gerald Ngatia, who led
the residents in uprooting the beacons and chasing
surveyors out of the forest. He was arrested on Friday
and released after two hours of interrogation at
Kiganjo Police Station. He also recorded a statement
and was ordered to report to the station today.

The surveyors arrived in three government vehicles
yesterday: two Land Rovers and a Suzuki.

Following Mr Sifuna's application, the Eastern Mau,
South Western Mau, Western Mau Nakuru, Nabkoi, Mt
Kenya, Marmanet, Northern Tinderet, Mt Londian, South
Nandi, Molo and Kapsaret Forests will remain the
property of the State until a case to be filed in two
weeks time is determined by the same court in
Eldoret.

Meanwhile, tension has gripped Hombe Forest as more
than 600 squatters have threatened to silence those
opposing the allocations. Squatter families that have
been residing by the roadside after the government
evicted them from Mt Kenya and Aberdare forests in
1989 said those demanding a halt to the surveying of
the forests are insensitive to their plight.

Led by Mr James Maina, the squatters threatened to
unleash terror on farmers at Sagana Settlement Scheme
who are opposed to the allocation. They staged a
demonstration in Karatina Town recently. When we
lived in the forest, there was no logging and the
forest was safe from environmental destruction, the
squatters argued. We know where the water catchment
areas are and no one can tamper with them.

At the same time, Green Belt Movement Coordinator
Wangari Maathai has vowed to continue collecting
signatures for her petition seeking to stop
Environment Minister Francis Nyenze carrying out the
excision of forests in Rift Valley and Central
provinces. She has collected 32,000 signatures so far.
She was speaking at St Luke's Anglican Church in
Nairobi yesterday.

On Saturday, the Catholic Church challenged the
government to name the squatters it proposes to settle
on forest land. Archbishop Ndingi Mwana aNzeki said
the State had a responsibility to protect citizens and
provide services to them in a transparent manner.

The High Court in Eldoret last week stopped
Environment Minister Francis Nyenze from excising
forests in Rift Valley and Central Provinces.

The Eastern Mau, South Western Mau, Western Mau,
Nakuru, Nabkoi, Mt Kenya Marmanet, Northern Tinderet,
Mt Londiani, South Nandi, Molo and Kapsaret forests
will remain state property until a case to be filed
in two weeks time is determined.

Contact: [email protected]