Bomet Deputy governor Dr. Hillary Barchok has revealed what he believes should be done to help bring to end controversies that have surrounded ongoing evictions of people alleged to have encroached into the Mau forest.
Speaking in Eldoret town on Tuesday during the close of a training for county officials on environment management, Dr. Barchok said the government to dialogue with affected locals and reach an agreement on where they will be resettled and how they will be compensated before the eviction continue.
“You cannot say that you are conserving the forest if you are not in agreement with the people that live around there, therefore, a dialogue is paramount before anything is done,” Dr. Barchok said.
“Let the government sit down and talk with the victims since we want to protect both the environment and our people. This will solve the problem once and for all,” he added.
The Jubilee deputy governor further said if there are issues with title deeds issued irregularly, there should be proper talk with the residents over the matter.
He, however, insisted that ongoing eviction are irregular noting that it is targeting locals who are over 11 kilometers from the forest cutline, with a majority of them possessing genuine title deeds issued to them by the government agencies.
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