TASK FORCE TO SOLVE LAKE KAMNAROK DISPUTE Via #TheStar Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi has appointed a task force to help resolve a dispute over the planned eviction of more than 35,000 people in Lake Kamnarok National Game Reserve. Cheboi said the team will be gazetted and given two months to complete its work. He was speaking to journalists in Eldoret town yesterday. Members of the Tugen community in three affected locations in Barwesa ward have protested plans by the county government and the Kenya Wildlife Service. Cheboi said the task force will help to establish the boundaries of the game reserve, genuine settlers in the area and ownership of the land in the region. The team will verify all details on the game reserve before we know the way forward, he said. Cheboi was with Barwesa MCA Julius Makilap. Some of those involved are interested in the ongoing prospecting of oil and they want to use the game reserve as an excuse to remove the community from its ancestral land, said Zephani Toroitich, chaiman of the Kerio Valley Professional Association. He was with association members Hillary Chepchieng, Joshua Kurui and Stephen Kishenya. They said their three attempts to hold meetings for the affected community have been disrupted by youth hired by powerful people with interests in the area. The three accused Makilap of being used to frustrate the local community from pursuing its land rights. Makilap, however, accused the professionals of being petty and inciting residents without a genuine reason. The families to be affected are in Lawan, Kabutie and Kabosgei areas, which were gazetted as part of the game reserve in 1983.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 11:55:43 +0000
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