Uasin Gishu County Leaders call for dignified treatment and resettlement Of the Ogiek Community.
Uasin Gishu County Governor Jonathan Bii addressing Members of the Ogiek Community at Cherus Village in Kesses Sub County/Photo Courtesy
By Hubzmedia Reporter
Uasingishu County Leaders have called for dignified treatment of the Ogiek Community, days after the court ruled that the hunters and gatherers are illegally residing in the forests.
Speaking in Cherus village, Kesses Sub-Count, during the homecoming ceremony of Hon. Juliet Jelimo, a member of the Ogiek Community who was nominated to The Uasin Gishu Assembly, Governor Jonathan Bii and Kesses Member of Parliament Julius Ruto urged the government to provide alternative settlement for the Ogiek Community who are an indigenous forest Community.
“As the Governor of Uasin Gishu we will push for a dignified resettlement of the Ogiek Community following the Court Ruling, We will also continue encouraging the Community to embrace Education,” Said Bii
The Kesses Member of Parliament Julius Ruto faulted the Courts saying it did not offer an alternative settlement for the Ogiek after declaring that they were illegally inhabiting the Forests,
“We urge the New Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Forestry Soipan Tuya to ensure the Ogiek community are given alternative land by Government for their settlement and we urge that the process of removing the Ogiek from the forests is conducted in a humane way “Said Ruto
The Ogiek Community living in Chepkitale area in Mt Eldon Forest had sued the Government for evicting them from their ancestral land and Gazetting it as a National Game Reserve
However a three judge –bench of the Environment and Lands Court in Bungoma County led by Justice Boaz Olao ruled the community should vacate the Forest without any compensation since they had already been resettles at the Chepyuk settlement Scheme,
According to a 2019 National census the Ogiek Are a Minority and Indigenous Community scattered in and around the Mau Forest Complex with a Population of 52,00 People.
In 2017 the African Court on Human and people’s rights ruled that Kenya had violated the Ogiek community’s rights to Land ,Religion ,Culture, development and non-discrimination.
That was the second ruling against Kenya regarding its treatment of Indigenous people since 2010 when the African Commission found that the Eviction of the Endorois community from their land for Tourism in the 1970s violated their human rights.
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