Samburu Central residents protest plans to evict them

Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal

Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal has blamed a local forest resource management organisation for the high forest encroachment by local residents.

Mr Lenolkulal said the composition of the Community Forest Association (CFA) was responsible for the encroaching of Kirisia Forest in Samburu Central.

He said the association was wrongly constituted making it hard for the body to manage the challenge of pastoralists.

Mr Lenolkulal was speaking in Maralal when demonstrating residents protesting the impending eviction from the forest sought his audience yesterday.

The over 1,000 demonstrators are living on parcels of land said to be part of the forest.

"The constituted CFA was not done properly, and we want to liaise with the Ministry of Environment to make sure that the association is reconstituted properly," he said.

The residents have laid claim to the land saying they inherited it from their forefathers and removing them will render them landless. They accused the county government of hatching a scheme to have them removed.

"We have never been shown the forest cutoff line," said Simon Lekipo, who was part of the demonstration.