NAIROBI, Kenya — August 26, 2026 — Kenya’s government has announced a major financial and land-tenure initiative aimed at addressing longstanding disputes surrounding the Mau Forest, combining compensation for thousands of people previously evicted from the forest with measures intended to strengthen conservation and provide greater security for communities living on neighboring land.
President William Ruto announced during a visit to Sogoo in Narok South that the government had released KSh2.6 billion to support 13,000 people who were evicted from the Narok Mau Forest about six years ago. Under the initiative, each beneficiary is expected to receive KSh200,000 to assist in establishing a home and livelihood elsewhere. The President described the intervention as an effort to bring closure to years of uncertainty experienced by affected families while preserving the Mau ecosystem.
“We are today officially closing the long and painful chapter of people who were removed from the Mau Forest,” President Ruto said, according to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. He added that the forest would be managed by the Narok County Government as authorities seek to protect it from renewed encroachment.
The latest payments follow an earlier government intervention in 2023, when approximately 2,000 families living in temporary shelters in the forest were each provided KSh300,000 to leave the protected area and obtain land elsewhere. The administration says the latest KSh2.6 billion allocation expands that effort to thousands of additional people affected by previous evictions.
President Ruto said the government is seeking to establish a lasting distinction between protecting the Mau Forest itself and securing the property rights of people living legally around its boundaries. His official public statements said that a caveat affecting land bordering the forest had been lifted, allowing legitimate landowners to continue agricultural activities and other lawful uses of their property.
At the same time, the President emphasized that securing the Mau Forest under a definitive title would strengthen efforts to prevent encroachment and conserve one of Kenya’s most important water catchment systems. The forest complex supports rivers, agriculture, ecosystems and livelihoods extending well beyond Narok County. The administration has presented clearer land ownership and boundaries as important elements of long-term environmental protection.
The government also announced the acquisition of approximately 5,800 acres of the Cheluget land in Narok South, an intervention intended to resolve a dispute that has affected roughly 600 families for about three decades. President Ruto said title deeds would be processed for families living on the acquired property, providing residents with formal ownership documentation and greater certainty over their land.
The President characterized the measures as an attempt to move the Mau issue beyond recurring electoral disputes and toward a durable administrative settlement. “Many politicians have talked of the Mau question but I talked of the Mau answer,” President Ruto said while addressing residents, arguing that compensation, land ownership documentation and conservation measures together could provide a more lasting solution.
Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu welcomed the government’s broader development initiatives in the county, including the resettlement effort. “The resettlement of Mau Forest evictees, construction of modern markets, affordable houses and construction of roads across the country is a clear indication that this Government has delivered,” the governor said during the President’s visit.
The Mau Forest question has remained one of Kenya’s most sensitive intersections of environmental conservation, land ownership, displacement and politics. Successive administrations have faced the challenge of protecting a nationally important water tower while addressing the economic and humanitarian consequences experienced by communities affected by evictions and disputed land claims.
The latest initiative therefore represents more than a compensation program. By combining financial assistance, title-deed issuance, clarification of neighboring land rights and stronger protection of the forest itself, the government is presenting the measures as a pathway toward resolving decades of uncertainty while balancing human settlement needs with Kenya’s long-term environmental interests.
