Maasai leaders in Narok have told politicians to keep off the Mau Forest land issue and let the matter be resolved by government ministries.
Led by Narok North MP Moitalel Kenta and former Narok Town Council chairman Kelena Nchoe, they said tome top politicians are sponsoring a section of Rift Valley leaders to oppose the evictions and incite the settlers not to leave the forest.
They made the remarks at Katakala Secondary School whenKenta opened a water project and classrooms sponsored by Narok North CDF on Sunday.
Moitalel was accompanied by several former councillors.
The Mau forest is a vital water tower inKena's ecosystem but cutting trees and agriculture have eroded it and its effectiveness.
The MP said move to evict all the illegal settlers from all the water towers in the country was made in 2009 after recommendations from Mau the Task Force report.
The legislator defended then Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko and RiftValley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya against allegations from some RiftValley leaders that they were biased in the impending Mau forest evictions.
“Tobiko and Natembeya are implementing the government policies and people's wishes and these leaders should leave them to undertake their mandate,” Kenta said.
Kenta said that Mau belongs to the Maasai community and there is no way the Kalenjin leaders can dictate them to how to conserve the Mau Forest.
“We are fully behind the decision by the President Uhuru Kenyatta through Tobiko and Natembeya to restore the degraded forest which is under threats from illegal settlers,” the lawmaker said.
On Saturday in Kericho county, Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen and other leaders called for sacking Tobiko and Natembeya for failing to protect the illegal settlers being evicted from the Mau forest.
The ODM lawmaker said these leaders have been misadvising their community residing in Mau to attack the security officers to resist the second phase of evictions.
“I advise these leaders that If there is a way you want to save your community, it's not by making them collide with the government by attacking security officers by with arrows and bows," Kenya said.
Kenta has said that settlers must leave the forest land because more than three million Kenyans rely on the Mau ecosystem.
“The wildlife, especially at the Maasai Mara, depends on the waters from the Mau Forest," he said," and the draw tourists."
(Edited by V. Graham)
