Former president Moi should be arrested and prosecuted for ‘annexing and dividing the Mau Forest to his own tribe’ when he knew that it was one of Kenya’s most important water catchment areas, writes Isaac Newton Kinity, in an open letter to the country’s president and prime minister. Around 450,000 Kikuyus who lived and worked on forestry stations in the area were evicted in 1985, to make way for Kalenjin settlers under the Moi government. The Mau Forest was the source of several rivers, but...read more
Former president Moi should be arrested and prosecuted for ‘annexing and dividing the Mau Forest to his own tribe’ when he knew that it was one of Kenya’s most important water catchment areas, writes Isaac Newton Kinity, in an open letter to the country’s president and prime minister. Around 450,000 Kikuyus who lived and worked on forestry stations in the area were evicted in 1985, to make way for Kalenjin settlers under the Moi government. The Mau Forest was the source of several rivers, but after Kalenjin settlers cut down thousands of acres of trees, many of the rivers dried up and drought began ‘to hit Kenya’, says Kinity. Recognising the ecological importance of the Mau Forest, Kenya’s environment minister has now called for the eviction of Kalenjin settlers. Kinity argues that if the government intends to compensate Kalenjin settlers, it must first compensate the Kikuyu who previously inhabited the forest.
