Narok County Governor, Patrick Ole Ntutu, has urged about 300 families left out of the government’s Sh. 2.6 billion Mau Forest evictees compensation programme, to follow official channels as authorities review their grievances.
Ntutu said the affected families, many of them from Melelo Ward, should remain patient as the National government addresses concerns over the compensation list.
Speaking at Mara in Narok South, during the opening of ECDE classroom, the Governor said the families should work with local administrators, including chiefs and village elders, to help verify information submitted during the compensation process.
“I want to ask our people from Melelo Ward, to be patient as their compensation issue is handled by the National government,” Ntutu said.
He said the government should establish why families in Melelo were left out of the programme while beneficiaries in Sogoo and Sagamian received most of their compensation.
Ntutu said errors may have occurred during the preparation and verification of the list, but urged affected families to allow authorities to investigate and correct any omissions.
His remarks came a day after Narok County Commissioner, Kipkech Lotiatia, ordered the families to leave the Mau Forest and present their complaints through established government channels.
The families had returned to the forest and pitched tents after discovering that their names were missing from the list of beneficiaries who received compensation following their eviction from the water tower.
Lotiatia said about 13,000 families received Sh. 200,000 each under the compensation programme, while acknowledging that some affected households had not benefited.
He dismissed claims that chiefs altered the list and urged those who were left out to lodge complaints with the relevant government offices.
“Do not blame the chiefs by claiming they removed your names from the final list. Use the appropriate channels to present your complaints to the relevant offices so that they can be heard and resolved,” Lotiatia said.
He also warned the families against re-occupying the forest, saying his office would not allow settlement or other activities in prohibited areas.
Lotiatia cautioned residents against spreading unverified information on social media, saying his office had the original list of evictees earmarked for compensation.
The affected families, however, said thousands of households suffered losses during the eviction and called for a fresh verification exercise to establish the people and property affected.
They said some eligible families could have been omitted from the compensation list, while others claimed their personal and property details were recorded incorrectly.
The families want government agencies to work together during the verification exercise to confirm the identities of affected households and assess the property they lost before any further payments are made.
They also called for a transparent process involving affected communities to ensure eligible households are neither excluded nor added to the list without justification.
Ntutu also addressed concerns over alleged ethnic divisions in Narok Town Ward, dismissing claims that some communities faced eviction from the County.
He said all residents have a constitutional right to live anywhere in the country and urged politicians to avoid using ethnic issues to mobilise support.
“I want to tell the people of Narok Town Ward and the entire County that my government has no tribalism. We have led in peace and want to continue with peace,” he said.
The Governor’s remarks came after a section of the Narok community called on him to tone down on what they described as attacks against individuals whom he has accused of being money-hungry.
Ntutu said his Administration would extend youth empowerment programmes across all wards without discrimination based on community.
He said funds and other support targeting young people would be distributed across the county’s wards, rather than being reserved for a particular community.
The evictions followed a wider government effort to protect the Mau water tower, a critical forest ecosystem that spans parts of the Rift Valley.
In 2018, about 30,000 households living inside the water tower were evicted in a two-phase operation.
The government subsequently introduced compensation for affected households, with beneficiaries expected to meet eligibility requirements established during the verification process.
The current dispute has focused on families who say they suffered losses but were not included among those compensated. They want the government to reopen the verification process before the programme proceeds further.
For the affected families, the central issue remains whether the compensation register accurately reflects households that were removed from the forest and the property they lost during the eviction exercise.
By Emily Kadzo
