Seeking divine help on the burden that weighs heavily on their shoulders regarding their future, settlers in South Western Mau who are camping on the roadside at Kapkembo in Kuresoi, say a prayer before a meeting on Friday. Photo / JOSEPH KIHERI

By GEORGE SAYAGIE and JOHN NGIRACHU Posted Friday, November 13 2009 at 22:00 One moment you are in, the next, you are out. For some of the people moving out of the south western part of the Mau Forest Complex, this has come to be a familiar pattern of their lives. It is not the first time they have been evicted from the forest and somehow found their way back, only to be ejected again.

 

But with the government’s new-found determination to conserve the country’s key water tower, signs are that they are leaving for good, there will be no going back again. Scores of the illegal settlers started streaming out of the forest that borders the expansive Kiptagich Tea Estate the moment the government sent security forces there. The mere presence of officers from the Kenya Forest Service, the Kenya Widlife Service and regular and administration police was enough to send them packing. …

 Evictions in Mau a constant cycle