Editing Kipsigis people (section)

===== MAU Settlement Programs and evictions =====
{{Main|Mau Forest}}
The Kipsigis initial settlement was at Tulwaap Kipsigis in Londiani; strategically, the hill makes up part of the Mau Forest reserve in Kenya. The Kipsigis believe they have a 'god-given' claim upon the forest which alludes to the adoption at some point in the Kipsigis history of the aboriginal hunter-gatherer tribe, the Okiek who are native to a region between Mount Kenya stretching up all the way to Mau Forest in Rift Valley. Mau crisis started when the trust land was allocated to group ranches between the 1980s and 1990s who were mainly ethnic Maasai elite during Daniel Moi's Kanu era. The problem exacerbated about when the group ranches went beyond the cutline and occupied forest land. Part of the Mau Forest was initially a trust land under the defunct Narok County Council. Traditionally, the forest has been inhabited by the Ogiek. However, due to immigration from other ethnic groups, large parts of the forest area were cleared for settlement. In 2004, the famous Ndungu Report listed these land allocations, terming them illegal and recommended their revocation of them. Some evictions were done between 2004 and 2006 without a resettlement option. In 2005, the government placed a caveat on all title deeds issued to claimants, saying they were irregularly issued.<ref name="Njeru">{{Cite web |last=Njeru |first=Betty |title=Explainer: What we know about the Mau Forest crisis |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/rift-valley/article/2001340588/explainer-what-we-know-about-the-mau-forest-crisis |access-date=2022-10-29 |website=The Standard |language=en |archive-date=3 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403235411/https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/rift-valley/article/2001340588/explainer-what-we-know-about-the-mau-forest-crisis |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2008, the Kibaki regime through the then [[Prime Minister Raila Odinga]] ordered evictions to be effected by October 2008 in order to protect the forest from destruction. The order was opposed by several Rift Valley politicians led by [[Isaac Ruto]]. The then Agriculture Minister [[William Ruto]], proposed evictees be allocated land elsewhere. Later, Environment Minister John Michuki would reverse the order. Subsequently, in 2008, there was a political row over the resettlement of people in the Mau Forest who had been allocated land in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name="Njeru"/>