Sengwer community members yesterday accused the government of planning to drive them to extinction.
Addressing the press at the Hilton hotel, Nairobi, the community said more than 100 armed Kenya Forest Rangers descended on them on December 25.
“It seems the government is determined to wipe us out,” Yator Kiptum said.
However, KFS chief conservator Emilio Mugo said KFS has not evicted anyone. “That is an operations area where there has been cattle rustling between Pokots and the Marakwet. We have not evicted anyone but we have our people there trying to prevent pastoralists from building houses,” Mugo told the Star on the phone.
Kiptum said the same rangers conducted a second raid on December 29, forcibly evicting members of the community from their ancestral land in Kapkok, Koropkwen and Kaptirpai glades in Embobut Forest.
Kiptum said the fact that the rangers came during the festive season shows they are not acting in good faith. “They are acting in a way to avoid scrutiny as they know courts are closed, while the media and politicians are on holiday,”he said.
The Sengwer community have lived in Embobut for generations. They mainly raisecows and sheep. The community also collects honey.
Embobut Forest is a gazetted reserve of 21,933.3 hectares, KFS data shows. The Kenya Forest Service says some permit holders from the adjacent community were allowed to occupy open grasslands for grazing. No cultivation was allowed.
Later, KFS says, hunters and gatherers such as the Sengwer and Kimala entered the forest. In 1962, landslide victims from several clans joined the permit holders in the open grounds. The population of the permit holders, Sengwer and Kimala and landslide victims, increased with time, forcing them deeper into the forest.
The Sengwer and Kimala adopted farming, which is against the forest law. Several attempts have been made to remove the populations from the forest since the 1980s.
Evictions have increased since 2013.