Environment Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya has told Parliament that the fencing of Mau Forest is currently at 40 per cent with plans to complete the remaining 60 per cent on course.
Tuya who was responding to questions on the floor of the House also informed the MPs that she was aware of encroachment in some parts of the forest.
She, however, said her ministry would take necessary remedial measures to stop it.
“Yes, I have a report on my desk on the issue of Ngareta forest and it is a matter under investigation and action will follow once we establish the extent of any attempted encroachment,” Tuya said.
She was particularly responding to a question by Narok West Gabriel Tongoyo who claimed some highly placed individuals have encroached on the water tower.
“Is the CS aware that Ngareta forest which is part of the Mau complex is being encroached on and grabbed by very high-placed individuals and also to tell us the government's plan to protect the forest?” he asked.
Over 60,000 families were evicted from the water tower in late 2019 following orders by the then Environment cabinet secretary Keriako Tobiko.
According to Tuya, the government was committed to achieving the target of planting 15 billion trees in the country as part of the efforts to address the effects of climate change.
“It is the priority of the government to expedite the fencing of the remaining 60 per cent and therefore my ministry is keenly watching and taking action to ensure that we are not saying we planted 15 billion trees and other people are moving back to destroy,” she said.
As the evictions started, Tobiko stated that no one would be compensated "as they had illegally encroached on government land."
Tobiko dismissed those who have title deeds, terming the documents as pieces of paper which had been acquired through the back doors.
He said though the issue had been politicised they were committed to ensuring the forest had been restored to its original status.
The CS said some politicians were using the issue of the water tower to seek support from the communities.
“I will keep on repeating that if you have a title deed that indicates you own part of the Mau you should know that it is just a piece of paper that you have,” he said in July 2019.
Kenya Water Towers Agency (KWTA) aims at putting an electric fence around the entire forest.
