Ruto's Sh2.6b Mau payout raises legal questions

President William Ruto during a tour of Narok on August 25, 2026. [PCS]

President William Ruto’s decision to release Sh2.6 billion to 13,000 people evicted from the Maasai Mau Forest has revived a contentious legal question.

The decision has raised the question whether the government can pay people whose claim for compensation was rejected by court.

Ruto announced on Wednesday that each of the 13,000 beneficiaries would receive Sh200,000 to help them secure alternative settlements and rebuild their lives following their eviction from the forest.

But the payout comes against the backdrop of a 2022 judgment by the Narok Environment and Land Court that expressly rejected compensation claims by Mau Forest evictees.

In a judgment delivered on October 13, 2022, a three-judge bench comprising Justices John Mutungi, Mohammed Kullow and George Ong’ondo ruled in Mapelu and 13 others v Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Lands & Physical Planning and 164 others that the disputed land had been unlawfully incorporated into the Maasai Mau Forest.

The court held that titles derived from the unlawful allocation of forest land were invalid and could not enjoy constitutional protection.

It further found that the government was entitled to reclaim the forest land and that the evictions were justified.

Most significantly, the judges expressly rejected compensation.

“The evictees from the Maasai Mau Forest did not deserve to be compensated,” the judgment states, adding that the petitioners had failed to prove that they were lawful owners of the land.

The court also held that Article 40(4) of the Constitution, which provides for compensation where property is compulsorily acquired by the State, did not apply because the Maasai Mau Forest was already public land. The Government, the judges said, could not compensate people who were occupying its land illegally.

The judgment ordered people still occupying the disputed forest land to vacate within 90 days. It also directed the authorities, together with the Narok County, to establish the forest boundary and subsequently fence and protect it.

The new Sh2.6 billion payout therefore raises questions about how the Government has legally characterised the payment.

If it is being made as compensation for the loss of land or the eviction itself, it could appear difficult to reconcile with the 2022 judgment, which rejected precisely such a claim.

But the legal position is more nuanced if the Government is treating the money as a separate resettlement, humanitarian or ex-gratia programme rather than as compensation ordered by a court.

The 2022 judgment determined the legal claims before the court.

 It did not, in the passages examined, expressly prohibit the Executive from subsequently creating a separate assistance programme for displaced people.

 The key issue is therefore the legal and policy basis on which the new payments have been authorised.

Narok lawyer Martine Kamwaro, who represented interested parties in the case, said the distinction was important.

He argued that the 2022 judgment went beyond simply dismissing the petitioners’ case and dealt directly with the question of compensation.

 The Government, he said, should explain whether the current payment is compensation arising from the eviction or assistance intended to help affected families resettle.

It should also disclose the criteria used to identify the 13,000 beneficiaries, the vetting process, the budgetary provision supporting the payments and whether the 2022 judgment was appealed or subsequently affected by another court decision.

Ruto, however, has presented the payout as the final step in resolving the long-running Mau dispute.

“Many politicians have talked of the Mau question but I talked of the Mau answer,” he said on Wednesday.

The President said the Government had released Sh2.6 billion to support the 13,000 people evicted from the forest and enable them to find alternative places to settle.

 Current reports describe the recipients as 13,000 people or evictees rather than necessarily 13,000 separate families.

Ruto also announced that restrictions placed on land bordering the Mau Forest had been lifted, allowing affected owners to resume agricultural activities and transact on their land.

He said securing the forest through a title deed would strengthen conservation and help prevent further encroachment.

“With the Mau Forest now with a definite title deed, we will be better placed to prevent further encroachment and strengthen conservation of the critical water tower,” Ruto said.

The President also announced that the Government had acquired the 5,800-acre Cheluget land in Narok South, bringing to an end a decades-long dispute involving about 600 families.

He said the process would be completed next month through the issuance of title deeds to the beneficiaries. Current reporting supports the acquisition and the planned titling process.

For the Mau evictees, however, the immediate relief provided by the Sh200,000 payments may not settle the deeper legal question.

The 2022 court ruling remains clear that the petitioners in that case were not entitled to compensation for eviction from land the court found had been unlawfully incorporated into the forest.

What remains to be established is whether the Sh2.6 billion programme is legally a payment of compensation—or a new Government-funded resettlement and humanitarian intervention operating on a different legal basis.