CS Wakhungu: Efforts to save Mau Forest complicated

NAROK COUNTY: Politics is standing in the way of reclaiming Mau forest, Environment Cabinet Secretary (CS) Judi Wakhungu has said.

She said if politics and ethnic considerations are put aside, rehabilitation and conservation of the forest in which more than 25, 000 families are laying claim on would succeed.

"The issue of reclaiming the forest is complicated. Politics is the biggest impediment. If it is put aside, we will succeed in stopping definite depletion and embark on a journey to rehabilitate and conserve it," she said.

Apart from politics and ethnic consideration, Wakhungu said there is need to strike a balance between the livelihoods of settlers in the forest and protecting the environment, adding the long standing unresolved issue of settlements in the one of the largest water catchment area in East Africa is a sore thumb in the country's collective conscience.

Speaking in Narok she added that there was need to bring together all politicians from counties that share the resource and national government on a round table for them to agree on a road map towards removing settlers without disrupting their lives and economic activities.

"If eviction is going to be only way in which the forest is going to be saved, then it should have a human face. Economic considerations and stability of the settlers should be put on the table before the exercise," said Wakhungu.

She was speaking at a joint Kenya and Tanzania news conference at the banks of the Mara River at Sikinder area during the annual Mara River Day celebration. Dr Canisius Kanangire, the Executive Secretary of the East African Community Lake Victoria Basin Commission Secretariat attended.

The commission has been mandated by the two countries to oversee the sustainability of the Mara River Basin. Sixty per cent of the river that both countries depend on the multibillion tourism industry in Masai Mara and Serengeti is on the Kenya side and the rest in Tanzania.

Wakhungu said the Government was ready to compensate thousands of Mau settlers, adding that if a deal is struck towards the direction, funds that have already been set aside would be availed.

The CS said the ongoing destruction is yet affected the diplomatic relationship between Kenya and Tanzania that depend on river flow for tourism and its people livelihoods, adding both governments are formulating a ten year Integrated Water Management Policy for sustainability of the river.

Kanangire said the policy document whose drafting started in 2006 was being finalized, adding that it should be operational after the signing before the end of the year.

Deputy President William Ruto in on record saying that the Government is planning to end settlements within Mau in two years by compensating settlers.