The ongoing evictions in Mau Forest Complex have the blessings of President Uhuru Kenyatta, Environment and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko has said.
Speaking when he launched a tree planting programme in the forest on Friday, Tobiko said the evictions were not his personal decision, but an exercise which had been approved by Head of State.
"Conservation of the Mau Forest Complex is not a personal decision but a collective government decision with the blessings of the President," he said.
The CS dismissed claims the evictions were targeting a certain community, saying they were aimed at reclaiming the country's biggest water catchment tower.
"No community is being targeted, the security forces don't ask illegal settlers which tribe they belong to they have all been evicted," he said.
In a press conference on Thursday, Rift Valley leaders accused the government of carrying out a 'guerrilla-like operation against innocent and unarmed citizens' and asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to halt the exercise.
Emurua Dikir MP Johanna Ng'eno challenged the President to come out and explain whether the evictions meant people were being resettled to their ancestral lands.
“The President should read the letter; it came from his office. Is it the position of the government that people should go back to where they came from? Is that the position of the government that all the people should go back to their counties of origin? To their ancestral land?...then he should declare the deadline when all the rest will go back to where they came from,” the outspoken MP said.