This archive report was first published on 15 September 2019.
Published on September 15, 2019, the government's eviction of settlers on Mau forestland has sparked public debate, but the real cause of illegal settlements in Kenya is widespread landlessness among the poor.
Most Kenyans discussing the second phase of the eviction plan set for end of October on social media use terms like 'invaders' and 'encroachers' to refer to the 60,000 households targeted, much the same way the authorities regard them.
However, lost in the din of ethnic and political protests is the historical context of landlessness in Kenya, particularly in the Rift Valley and central regions.
The colonialists drove the so-called natives out of the fertile white highlands, and when they left, the land fell in the hands of the independence elite, leaving the poor landless.
These historical land injustices are well-documented in the reports of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, the Ndungu Commission on illegal and irregular allocation of public land, and others.
In the Mau case, the Moi-era elite cleverly schemed to grab huge chunks of forestland under the guise of official excision to settle the landless poor.
Without providing for alternative settlement in its forest restoration programme or helping them to repossess their original land, the government is simply aggravating an injustice and courting real trouble for the landed elite.
