This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
On November 1, 2019, Environment CS Keriako Tobiko spoke out against Rift Valley leaders who he claimed were trying to sabotage the Mau evictions. During a tree planting exercise at the Maasai Mau Forest, Tobiko emphasized that the evictions would continue and those remaining would be removed.
Tobiko specifically targeted politicians from the Rift Valley region, accusing them of inciting the public to stay in the forest and warning them of unspecified consequences if they continued down this path.
Contrary to claims by some politicians, Tobiko hailed the eviction process, stating that authority did not use force on the evictees. He said, 'The settlers left voluntarily. The exercise was done in a humane and judicious manner and we expect by the end of today to recover the whole of Maasai Mau water tower, all this has been done without firing a bullet, clobbering anyone or even burning houses.'
According to Tobiko, reclaiming the forest was the more challenging part of the process. The ministry of environment had initiated a ten million tree planting program in the Mau forest as part of its efforts to restore the vital water tower.
As part of this initiative, Tobiko announced that 300,000 tree seedlings would be planted manually and an area of 3,500 hectares would be aerially seeded.
