By Karanja Njoroge

A chilly morning wind numbs the face and hands at the streak of dawn as a light fog lifts above structures that look like cow sheds on the roadside.

Each structure, made of green leaves and shrubs that are pulled halfway down to act like roofs, emits smoke that mingles with the fog.

Life stirs from the structures as babies start crying and their parents emerge from the lowly abodes that have become their homes since Wednesday, last week.

The first batch of evictees march out of the forest last week.

A child stirs food at a makeshift camp along the Terta-Kapkembu road.

Some of the roadside shacks made of leaves where evictees are camping. Photos: Boniface Thuku/Standard

The scene is along the Terta-Kapkembu road, about five kilometres from Kapkembu area of South West Mau from where the first batch of evictees from the forest moved out.

Over 300 families have camped at various spots along the roadside waiting for fate to decide their future.

A day and a night with the people who have become the latest Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is an experience of extreme despair and squalour of people who say they have been kicked out without being allowed to harvest their crops.

As dawn gives way to a hazy morning sun, most of them move out of their structures to scavenge for any material they can lay their hands on to seal the gaping holes in their structures.

Mothers emerge clutching onto babies who are heavily clothed to ward off the cold that is a permanent feature in the highland region.

Small fires that had been lit inside the structure at night are transferred outside and fed with wood to cook assorted meals for the families.

Most women and children spend the day doing small chores outside their structures that look the same. Men wander off far to forage for food for their families.

Most grown-ups look distressed and do not even cheer when politicians visit the scene to talk to them as happened during the weekend.

Ezekiel Kirui and his family exemplify the fate of these roadside IDPs who also becoming a pawn in a political game with politicians sparring over their fate.

Kirui says he was expecting a bumper harvest from his five-acre farm. But his optimism was crushed Kenya Forest Service (KFS) rangers came calling and ordered them to leave Kapkembu which is part of the South Western Mau. The area is designated as settled by squatters who had no title deeds and, therefore, not in any compensation plan.

Together with his eight children, Kirui left a place he had called home for several decades, with only a handful of his belongings.

"It was the only place I could call home, my parents used to live in the forest and that’s where I was born," he adds.

The same story is repeated by other squatters moving out of the forest who say they have no place to go to.

Like others from Kapkembu, Kirui’s frustration is evident as he explains how his life has been turned upside down.

Using polyethylene papers and leaves, he has improvised a temporary shelter to shield his family from the biting cold and frequent drizzles in the area.

"Some of my neighbours moved to Tachasis but I decided to stay here so that I can look after my crops," Kirui says pointing at the nearby hill where other displaced families have relocated to.

The situation contrasts sharply with the promise by the Government to provide transport to those who would leave the forest.

On Saturday, Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa visited the area and promised the squatters that food and transport would be provided.

The administrator said the vehicles transporting food were on the way, but desperation was evident on the faces of the squatters, some who said they had gone hungry for three days.

The PC denied that the squatters were a new generation of IDPs, saying they came from other areas and encroached on the forest.

"The vehicles will transport them to their respective districts and the crops in the farms will be protected by the rangers. We will allow them to return and harvest once the crops are ready," he said.

KFS Rangers who moved into the forest last week said their work was only to ensure the settlers leave the forest.

The Provincial Administration, they added, is supposed to organise the logistics to facilitate movement of the settler’s and to ensure they do not starve.

The rangers have had an easy time as the settlers have been moving out without resistance.

Most of the settlers say the Government should have allowed them to harvest their crops before ordering them to move out.

It was only the presence of armed rangers, which sent shivers down the spines of the settlers, that made her to leave the forest, she says.

"The rangers have been coming and asking us to leave in a friendly way. Most of us have to go as we do not want a confrontation with the Government," said Mr Richard Kirui.

Some of the settlers claimed they settled in the forest after being promised land by some politicians prior to the last general election.