(Ecofin Agency) - On Friday, National Land Commission chairman (NLC), Dr Muhammad Swazuri (picture), ordered State agencies to stop evicting indigenous people living in ancestral forest lands.

Populations concerned include the Sengwer people that live in the Embobut forest. “I am appealing to the concerned state agencies to put to a stop any further evictions. I am also calling on the indigenous dwellers to stop any further transactions within the forest lands,” Swazuri said during three-day consultative forum held at the Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha.

Gathering officials from Kenya’s forest services and representatives of indigenous people living the forests, the forum which was co-organized by the Ministry of Environment and NLC, should help find answers to challenges related to land security and preservation of lands and forests in Kenya.

Restating the long-date issue of land management, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission commissioner, Gitile Naituli, declared that some individuals have been using the indigenous cause for selfish purposes. “If we really want to address the illegal indigenous land occupation then we need to revoke all the allocations done in the early 1980s to the current date,” Naituli said.

Concerned about efficiency, NLC’s chairman insured that his services would attend to the harmonization of works from the forum’s participants and that of State agencies namely the Kenya Forest Service and Kenya Wildlife Service, so they develop sustainable solutions to deal with forest lands conflicts.

Souha Touré