Battle for Tsavo: Win for KWS as court orders eviction of thousands from park land

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has won round one of its battle with thousands of ‘squatters’ that it says have invaded Tsavo East National Park after a court ordered that they be evicted.

 The Environment and Land Court issued the eviction orders pending the determination of a case by KWS against the residents.

 Justice Charles Yano also ordered the officer in charge of Voi Police Division (OCPD) and station commander of Voi Police Station (OCS) to ensure the orders are enforced and prevent any further invasion of the park.

“In my view, the respondents have no justification to insist on occupying the property when it is clear that their occupation is not only unlawful but also a danger to the wildlife and the ecosystem,” he said.

 He said KWS had made a case for the conservation of the wildlife environment and the need for sustainable development that cannot be quantified for an award of damages.

KWS, he said, has a title showing it is the registered owner of the land and established that the land can only be preserved by evicting the squatters.

 Squatters

He also said the squatters’ occupation of the park and the wildlife corridor increases their chance of contact with wildlife and puts them at risk of losing their lives and property.

 The squatters told the court that they had occupied the land before the title was issued to KWS.

They argued that an eviction order will cause them to lose the land and it will be impossible to be adequately compensated by way of damages.

 They also argued that granting the eviction orders will be condemning them unheard and rendering them homeless when the case has not been heard on merit.

 In its main suit, KWS wants the court to issue a permanent injunction against the squatters to vacate the park, failing which it should be free to start the eviction process.

 KWS says that sometime in August 2011, its senior warden at the park was informed that the defendants had begun encroaching on and settling inside the park around Ndara and Maungu in Taita Taveta County.

 The agency argues that it requested the national government to carry out a comprehensive survey, which confirmed that the squatters had encroached on the park.

 Illegal settlements

“The report verified the illegal settlements were within the park boundaries as per the survey plan No.343/54 as the boundary is 30.48 metres from the centre line of the railway line,” the suit documents say.

 The matter was reported to the Voi police station and two squatters were arrested, charged and convicted with obtaining money through false pretense, KWS says.

 KWS also argues that the defendants and their families have invaded, trespassed and assigned to themselves portions of the land in the park, the largest national park in the country.

 “Furthermore they are undertaking aggressive illegal construction within the national park thereby destroying the natural ecosystem and aesthetic pleasure,” the agency argues.

It also says that the presence of the defendants in the park poses an existential threat to the survival of the wildlife, a fact that warrants their urgent eviction from the park.

 KWS also argues that the portion of land forms part of the migratory corridor for wildlife in the park and hence any illegal human settlements will disrupt their movement and precipitate a human-wildlife conflict.

 The agency says that if the defendants are not urgently evicted from the park, there is imminent risk there will be further encroachment by other squatters.

 Public land

KWS also argues that because the park is public land held in trust for the benefit of Kenyans, the court has a specific obligation to protect it from being damaged through illegal human settlement.

 KWS is also seeking a declaration that the park is public land and the squatters’ presence is illegal from the beginning.

 In May, the agency wrote to a private sanctuary to evict more than 3,500 residents who it says have allegedly declined to allow the construction of an electric fence in Mwatate, Taita Taveta County.

 In a May 27 letter signed by the Tsavo Conservation Area’s senior warden in charge of community affairs, Zainab Salim, to the manager of Taita Hills and Saltlick Lodges, KWS seek the intervention of the Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary to evict the squatters in Kamtonga-Alia area.

 Tension rose in the area when residents declined to voluntarily move out of the 2,000-acre land to allow for the construction of the Sh40 million fence.

 The sanctuary claims ownership of the land where residents had settled since the 1980s. The fence has stalled for over 10 years after the residents sued to block KWS from implementing the project.

 In the letter, Ms Salim said the residents who settled there have torched several poles and stolen materials meant for building the fence.

 The vandalism, she said, had imposed another budget on the organisation and posed insecurity to the team undertaking the project.

 The court had ordered the fencing of the 30km Kamtonga-Alia to continue after residents sued KWS accusing it of encroaching into their land.

 “Please note that after the court ruling that the fence has not interfered with the complainants’ parcel of land and ordered continuation to completion of it, KWS has embarked to complete it as per that court order,” the letter said.

 Ms Salim urged the sanctuary to act quickly and take action on the offenders to avoid further losses and tragedies to the team continuing with the construction work.

 KWS has also held a meeting with the residents but they declined to allow the project to continue.

 However, the locals are now appealing to the State to spare them from the looming eviction and to hasten the process of issuing them with individual title deeds.

 Speaking to the Nation, residents opposing the project said KWS and the sanctuary want to grab their mineral-rich land instead of minimising persistent wildlife conflict.

 "We are the owners of the land and we will not move from this area," vowed Alia Farmers Association chairman Dorah Chao.

 She said that the High Court had in 1997 ordered that the land revert to locals.

 She blamed KWS for frequent wildlife invasions of people’s farms in the county.

 KWS recently used ground and air resources to drive out herds of elephants that had invaded villages. The beasts have also destroyed property, especially tanks in search of water.

 Through the Chawia council of elders, residents petitioned the National Assembly to stop the construction of the fence until the dispute is resolved.