This archive report was first published on 6 November 2019.
On November 4, 2019, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics released the 2019 Population and Housing Census report, which captured a population of only 32 people in the Mau Forest.
However, the report failed to account for nearly 50,000 'illegal settlers' who were later evicted by the government.
The census report indicated that only 28 men and four women were found in Mau Narok's 752.9 square kilometres of land.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Director-General Zachary Mwangi explained that the team only counted the people they found on the reference nights of August 24 and 25.
"Our numbers are of the people we found on the said night. A census is where you find the people and count them where they are," he said.
He further clarified that the forests are not categorised as settlement areas, but only for government staff like Kenya Forest Service (KFS) workers or their Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) counterparts.
