The water towers project is being implemented without free, prior and informed consent of the community, the leaders say. The forest community, whose rights have been repeatedly violated by the Kenya Government in brutal evictions, fear there will be more violations under the current project.
3rd November 2016
Delegation of the European Union to Kenya
Union House, Ragati Road
P.O. Box 45119-00100
Nairobi
RE: SUSPEND WATER TOWERS PROJECT IN CHERANGANY HILLS UNTIL YOU INCORPORATE RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH, FREE PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT, ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY
We, the undersigned, on behalf of Sengwer, an ethnic minority and marginalized forest indigenous peoples drawn from West Pokot, Trans Nzoia and Elgeiyo Marakwet, kindly call upon the Head of European Union Delegation to Kenya to suspend the Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Programme until you carry out free, prior and informed consent, incorporate a rights-based approach, accountability and transparency in the project.
We, are concerned about the manner officers from Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI) are implementing the project without clear written information. We have requested them in a number of meetings to give us a copy of the project document in vain. In fact, some days before the launch the officers were insisting that the project document was still in draft form. We’ve heard, with no touchable evidence, that the Water Towers Programme will be carried out in Mount Elgon and Cherangany Hills and that it will be implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Forest Research Institute and the County Government.
For instance, during Natural Resources Management Project, a World Bank funded project (2007-2013), Sengwer peoples living in Kapolet and Embobut forests had their fundamental freedoms, human and indigenous rights violated. For example in Kapolet Forest some community members were arrested and taken to police custody and accused of trespass while they were within their ancestral lands, their community land. A woman was also shot by KFS guards in the same Kapolet Forest. In Embobut Forest, we’ve had arrests and evictions (burning of houses and destruction of property).