CCM Party leader Isaac Rutto has warned of a humanitarian crisis if the government fails to compensate evictees from the Mau forest.
He supported Deputy President William Ruto's recent remarks in Narok that evictees will not be allowed back into the badly degraded forest.
Rutto said on Saturday, however, the government should only focus on resettlement of the evictees whom, he said, had suffered irreparable damage.
He said many of those evicted, including children, had died of illnesses while others contracted contagious diseases due to poor health conditions while migrating.
Therefore, he said, those responsible for flushing them out must be charged before the International Court of Justice if they fail to compensate them.
“We are keen on protecting forest lands and we are not forcing the government to allow those evicted to go back to their lands but to be compensated They were not living inside the forest but just next to the forest,” Rutto said.
He added, “If the government has now realised these people were living on lands which were not supposed to be theirs, then it should give them lands equal to those they owned, otherwise, this will be an historical injustice.”
Speaking at Yoiywana in Chepalungu on Saturday during the funeral of Siongiroi chief John Muge, the former Bomet governor said if President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration fails to compensate the evictees, the next government must prioritise doing so.
A week ago while seeking votes in Narok, DP Ruto said if he is elected, he will not allow them back to their lands in the forest because the ongoing conservation of the water tower takes priority.
His statement has caused ripples and some evictees have expressed dissatisfaction.
Present during the Rutto event were Governor Hillary Barchok, CAS John Mosonik, Senator Christopher Langat, Senate aspirant Hillary Sigei and MCA Leonard Kirui.
Langat asked evictees to be patent, saying here are good plans for them and they have not been forgotten.
(Edited by V. Graham)
