The Environment and Lands Court in Naivasha, Nakuru County, has decreed the national government and the Nakuru County government to compensate and resettle the tens of families who were displaced by the flooding of Lake Naivasha.
Judge Mary Oundo, in a virtual ruling, ordered both governments to facilitate the evacuation of the residents presently affected by the flooding. Besides this, the court also directed that the recommendations of a 2021 parliamentary task force report on Lake Naivasha flooding be put into effect.
Oundo decided that the boundaries of the lake riparian areas should be demarcated again to avoid further encroachment and thus reduce the risk to the communities living near the lake at present and in the future.
This ruling is in response to a petition brought before the court by the residents of Kihoto Estate in Naivasha who were forced to seek justice as their homes and ways of living were adversely affected by the continuously rising water levels.
The impacted families have expressed their support for the judgment, stating that it brings a chance for them to receive compensation, be resettled, and get long, term solutions for the flooding problem around the lake that keeps recurring.
