The ongoing evictions of settlers within the expansive Mau Forest complex have sent shockwaves among those with genuine title deeds.
The occupants of the over 7,000-acre Sierra Leone settlement, where some have genuine claim over parcels of land, have started fleeing.
Most of them expressed fears they will be the next target in the ongoing operation to rid the forest of any human dwellings.
Not even pleas by human rights group calling for an immediate halt of the operation has given them a
comfort of some sort.
"We don't want to be caught flat-footed like in the previous evictions," Kipteigok Ruto, who bought a seven-acre piece of land in the area in 2003, said.
On Wednesday, the standoff took a new turn after Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony moved to court in a bid to stop the evictions.
Through lawyer Peter Wanyama, the governor filed a petition at the Narok high court asking the court to temporarily stop the forceful evictions of people who have lawful title deeds from Mau Forest.
Chepkwony claimed that the evictions are being done in the most inhumane manner and security officers are burning houses, livestock and beating up property owners in a display of impunity.
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His petition, however flopped after Environment Judge Mohammed Kullow declined to issue orders stopping the evictions. An inter-parties hearing on the matter is slated for August 6.
Earlier, NGOs made a plea to the government to stop the evictions.
Kenya Water Towers Agency verification report of the entire forest claimants that was carried out in 2009 showed that only 430 settlers in Sierra Leone section had genuine title deeds.
They were mostly soldiers who had gone to Sierra Leone for UN peacekeeping mission before buying off some parcels of land.
However, most of them had started packing their belongings and loading them on Lorries, tractors and handcarts.
A prominent family in Narok sold about 9,000 acres to the returning soldiers in 2002.
Environmental conservation groups say it will be difficult for the joint security personnel to effectively police the forest if the settlement is left.
"The settlement should be removed and all routes sealed to secure it," Jackson Kamoe, the chairman of Mau Conservation Trust, said.
In 2005, the government placed a caveat on all title deeds which were issued to the forest land claimants, claiming they were irregularly issued by Lands Ministry.
Narok county commissioner George Natembeya said the exercise to secure the section of the Mau Complex is on course.
He denied reports that security personnel were using force when kicking out the settlers.
"About 90 per cent has been secured. All settlers moved out voluntarily. Some went back and burnt their former houses to portray that force was being applied," he said.
He added that sources of Mara and Ewaso Nyiro rivers on the western and eastern side of Maasai Mau and Olpusimoru Forest Reserve have been secured.
After the operation, he said indigenous trees would be planted on the depleted areas of the forest including sources of the two rivers.
"There will be a massive reforestation programme," he said and added that various security outposts would be established to deter future encroachment.
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