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August 15, 2013
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Kenya: Demand the World Bank Compensate the Maasai
Kenya: Demand the World Bank Compensate the Maasai
Kenya: Demand the World Bank Compensate the Maasai

For the Maasai people of the Rift Valley in Kenya, being evicted from their homeland has become all too common. Over the years, the government of Kenya has dispossessed over 4,000 families in the Naivasha region. Without alternative land to settle on or compensation for the losses they incurred during forced evictions, these families’ fates are uncertain. In the 1980s, the Maasai were evicted from their land to facilitate the creation of the Hells Gate National Park. Discoveries of massive potential for geothermal energy within the park made their land and homes an international point of interest for both local and international power-generating companies. Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), which “owns” and manages Hell’s Gate Park, leased part of the land to the state-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company, KenGen, to undertake extractive processes for the generation of geothermal energy. Now the Massai, who are sandwiched between Mt. Longonot, Hells Gate Park, and Lake Naivasha, are being forced out again.The Olkaria geothermal plant, funded by the World Bank and supported by the UN Environmental Program, is in its fourth phase of the development. With each new phase, the Maasai have been evicted from their homes—without their Free, Prior and Informed Consent. 
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"The Maasai of Olkaria are not against the development of geothermal projects in the region but we are without proper compensation. We also understand our rights and we cannot accept to be violated in the name of power production.” –Narasha Community Organization

 

Call on the World Bank, the UN Environmental Program, and other collaborators to implement their policies through adequate compensation determined in consultation with the Maasai people. Take Action Now.