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Post by job on Jan 26, 2008 2:28:19 GMT 3
PART 1
WHO OWNS THE LAND? BLOOD AND SOIL ISSUE.
The passion with which millions of wananchi valued their presidential vote in the stolen 2007 presidential elections can be reflected in scenes of the bloody post-election clashes today that engulf Rift Valley, Nyanza, Coast, Nairobi, Western and to a less extent in other parts of the country. Nakuru is now the latest epicenter of inter ethnic murders.
The violent reactions to rigged elections may reflect the pain of deep and historically rooted injustices some of which predate Kenya’s independence in 1963.
They are in fact motivated and exacerbated by landlessness, joblessness, and poverty believed to be heavily contributed towards by the prevailing political status quo that has dominated Kenya since independence. This is a system that has continuously perpetrated, in successive fashion, socio-economic injustices that have been seamlessly transferred from one power regime to the next.
The Land Issue.
With a fast growing population in Kenya, limited resources including land and jobs, have severely been put in extreme pressure. Responsive political operatives cognizant of this reality have appreciated the importance of incorporating progressive policies that seek to aggressively address poverty, landlessness, unequal distribution of resources and unemployment, as a matter of priority (in their party manifestoes) if any social stability is to be maintained in Kenya.
Without doubt, the opposition party ODM sold an attractive campaign package that sought to address historic land injustices, unemployment, inequitable resource sharing and poverty through a radical constitutional transformation, under the framework of the people-tailored Bomas Constitution Draft.
ODM proposed to tackle the land problem through clauses in the Bomas draft, captured under devolution and land chapters, with specific plans to form a National Land Commission to address the issue of landlessness and historic injustices of expropriation of native land by colonial and post-colonial powers.
The roots of the land conflicts in Rift Valley land lie with the former colonial power, Britain; post-independence land policies by the Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki administrations; and the tendency for ethnic favouritism and patronage by power wielders.
Colonial expropriation of native lands in Rift Valley and Coast.
In a nutshell, the British settlers literally grabbed native Maasai and Kalenjin lands in Rift Valley and Miji-Kenda, Taita and Taveta land at the Coast. At the Coast, there was also the added grabbing hand of the Middle-East Sultans who lay claim to another Coastal strip. Millions of voters from these communities (now deeply affected by landlessness and poverty) are today largely drawn towards ODM’s reform policies that seek to address these INJUSTICES.
Long before Independence, vast arable tracts of the Rift Valley were designated as White Highlands, reserved for European settlers. The pastoralist communities, mainly Kalenjin and Maasai, were simply moved away.
The 1904 and 1911 Anglo-Maasai land “Agreements” details the unjust grabbing of Maasai lands in Laikipia, Naivasha, Ngong, Karen, and tracts along the Uganda Railway line whereby uneducated Maasai Laibons either friendly to, or fearful of the British (christened Paramount Chiefs) like Lanana Ole Mbatian, were cajoled and intimidated into giving away native fertile Maasai land to the colonialists.
The words in the “Agreements” read like ……”we the undersigned, being the Laibons of clans of Maasai, have of our own free will, decided that it is for OUR best interests to REMOVE OUR PEOPLE, FLOCKS, AND HERDS into definite reservations away from the Railway line and away from European settlements…..” and “…..In conclusion, we wish to state that we are quite satisfied with the foregoing arrangement, and we bind ourselves and our successors, as well as OUR PEOPLE, to observe them as long as the Maasai as a race shall exist..”
The next thing we knew was that the Maasai were crumbled into arid portions of present day Kajiado and Narok districts. Grazing fields, and the very pastoral lifestyle of the Maasai instantly became threatened and continues to do so as we speak, without any restitution, compensation or pro-active rehabilitation into another life.
100 years later, when asked to address this burning Maasai land issue, former Lands Minister appointed by Mwai Kibaki, Mr. Amos Kimunya, once told the Maasai that there was nothing to address since the wise Maasai forefathers had given away their land to the British in a BINDING AGREEMENT which continues to apply to date.
Well, similar horrid but true stories applied in Kalenjin lands of Rift Valley and at the Coast too. Before independence, Kenyan political parties argued over whether the native land should be returned to the indigenous population under a federalist system of government or kept firmly under the control of a centralised state. Needless to add, those who favoured the latter option, in the form of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), which went on to form a government under Jomo Kenyatta, prevailed.
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Post by job on Jan 26, 2008 2:31:17 GMT 3
PART 2
1963 Independence, enter Jomo Kenyatta and GEMA Land-buying companies
Trouble is, we had a majimbo constitution at independence. Jennifer Widner explained in her 1992 book, The Rise of A Party-State in Kenya: From "Harambee!" to "Nyayo!" that KANU "urged central control of all regions in an effort to forestall local majimbo legislation restricting land transfer to those born in the area, and to maintain the foothold of the party's Kikuyu supporters in the Rift Valley land market".
Many settlers were returning to Britain. Kenyatta and his cronies quickly formed the Settlement Transfer Fund Schemes (STFS) and asked the British for a loan to the Kenyan government, to buy off land from colonial settlers returning to Britain. Good idea up to this point.
Britain, having been reassured by Kenyatta that those settlers still wishing to stay on in Kenya would not have their land repossessed, advanced the money. This money was used to buy settler land which was officially sold into the Kenyatta initiated Settlement Transfer Fund Schemes (STFS).
Next, Kenyatta began to give away and sell for peanuts, these government (STFS)-acquired, former colonial land parcels, to himself, his family and cronies around 1964 and 1965. This is the point when the rain started beating Kenya. Kenyatta’s then Vice President, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, cried foul and rejected these acts of wanton land grabbing.
The opportunity to choose nationalism and selflessness over greed and ethnic tendencies was lost. Rather than address this land issue once and for all, Kenyatta opted to REPLACE the settler colonialsist in land they had initially grabbed from natives. We have began harvesting the seeds of the mustard sown by Kenyatta in the 1960s. It will not be sweet at all.
The Seroneys and other Nandi and Kipsigis leaders immediately cried foul when Kenyatta ensued in his land grabbing tendencies. So were many Maasai and Miji-Kenda leaders like Ronald Ngala. Their cries were feeble and over run. Today and tomorrow, their descendants will demand justice and restitution in an exercise that threatens to tear apart Kenya’s social fabric.
Who will shoulder the burden of the fruits enjoyed by Kenyatta and his cronies, Moi and his cronies, and Kibaki and his latter day cronies? Will it be the poor Kenyan taxpayer taking the bill in form of blood, and more taxes?
Going back,.... down memory lane..... in the immediate post-independence era, the moment, the Seroneys and Ogingas started crying foul, and nothing was done, we entered a dangerous phase of our nation’s socio-political path.
The political leadership of Kenya began carving out into two distinct groups. The pro-Kenyatta land beneficiaries, sycophants and apologists where Tom Mboya, Daniel Moi, Paul Ngei and others trooped towards,….and another force resisting the greedy post-Independence governance by Kenyatta which was led by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, and included several former KADU operatives like Ronald Ngala, Jean Marie Seroney, Masinde Muliro, Martin Shikuku and others.
Kenyatta soldiered on with his grabbing. He concurrently went ahead with the help of Tom Mboya to change the constitution to give immense imperial powers to the Presidency. He further began using such powers to allocate more land to his cronies and sycophants. His salivating appetite for Rift Valley land largely motivated his choice of Rift Valley natives as Vice President after Oginga Odinga.
First he chose a Maasai, Joseph Murumbi, who read the scheme of land-betrayal on his people and resigned in a huff, then Kenyatta selected Daniel Arap Moi, a Tugen not drawn in the Nandi and Kipsigis land battles, as his next loyal VP. He then descended upon grabbing Rift Valley and Coastal land in a business as usual and “mtafanya nini” attitude that Kibaki is trying to emulate today.
Kenyatta cronies including Mbiyu Koinange, Njoroge Mungai and others devised a clever scheme to further benefit themselves from the land transferred from the colonialists. They formed land buying companies through loans which were actually funded with tax-payer money. At the height of land buying companies, most of the power brokers acquired huge chunks of land at the expense of the landless who were meant to be the initial beneficiaries of the scheme.
According to Widner (in her book), by 1971, more than 60 % large-scale farms around Nakuru and 40% of small scale settler farms, were held by Kikuyu, who fared very well from this arrangement, at the expense of other Kenyan communities.
Another scholar noted that "Using the political and economic leverage available to them during the Kenyatta regime, the Kikuyu, took advantage of the situation and formed many land-buying companies. These companies would, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, facilitate the settlement of hundreds of thousands of Kikuyu in the Rift Valley," wrote Walter Oyugi in Politicised Ethnic Conflict in Kenya: A Periodic Phenomenon.
In 1969, Jean Marie Seroney, a leading Nandi politician and MP, issued the Nandi Hills Declaration, laying claim to all settlement land in the district for the Nandi. His demands went unheeded. Aping the British Kenyatta government used a policy of divide-and-rule to neutralise such opposition by parcelling out land to other ethnic groups and thus winning their allegiance. Daniel arap Moi, the then Tugen vice-president was allocated the settler farms of the Lembus Forest and the Essageri Salient to divide the Tugen from the Nandi like Seroney.
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Post by job on Jan 26, 2008 2:33:00 GMT 3
PART 3
Most of the power brokers in the Kenyatta regime who formed land-buying companies established huge farms in the Rift Valley either jointly or on their own. They included Njenga Karume, the then Chairman of Gema Holdings, who acquired 20,000 acres in Molo where he is growing tea, coffee, pyrethrum and potatoes and 16,000 acres in Naivasha.
GG Kariuki acquired his 5,000 acres at Rumuruti, Laikipia Division, while former Attoney-General Charles Njonjo bought into the 100,000 acre Solio Ranch. Don’t forget, grabbing of settler land in Central by many colonial collaborators, at the expense of the Mau Mau fighters, was part of the scheme. Senior Chief Munyinge from Muiga took 400 acres. Initially, senior chief Munyinge was allocated only 70 acres but with time he managed to acquire 330 more acres.
Mwai Kibaki acquired 20,000 acres in Nanyuki, Former MP Munene Kairu has 32,000 acres at Rumuruti. Mr Isaiah Mathenge, the former powerful Provincial Commissioner under Kenyatta and an MP under Moi, is arguably the largest land owner in Nyeri municipality.
He owns Seremwai Estate, which is 10,000 acres. Kibaki’s friend, Kim Ngatende, a former government engineer, has 500 acres too.Mathenge also owns—jointly with former Provincial Commissioner Lukas Daudi Galgalo—the 10, 000-acre Manyagalo Ranch in Meru.
Back in Rift Valley, as Jaramogi and the rest of Kenyans were saying, Not Yet Uhuru, it was land grabbing business as usual. Land-buying companies were heisting big. There result was big acquisitions, for instance, Munyeki Farm—which stands for Murang’a, Nyeri, Kiambu – (4,000 acres), Wamuini Farm (6,000 acres), Amuka Farm (2,000 acres), Gituaraba Farm and Githatha Farm (1,000 acres each) and GEMA Holdings 12,000 acres. A few of them are being utilized, today with the owners growing various crops ranging from coffee, tea, maize and dairy keeping.
The other big farms include Chepchomo Farm (18, 000 acres), owned by the former Provincial Commissioner Ishmael Chelang’a. The family of the late Peter Kinyanjui, who was a close friend of President Mwai Kibaki and a former DP Chairman in Trans Nzoia between 1998 and 1999 owns 1,800 acres.
In Nakuru, several politically connected individuals have acquired many acres of prime land within the town—they include lawyer Mutula Kilonzo, who owns an 800-acre farm for dairy farming. The immediate former Auditor General, D S Njoroge, owns 500 acres, while Biwott’s Canadian son-in-law & co-owner of Safaricom (Mobitelea) a Mr. Charles, boasts a 100-acre piece where he is growing roses.
D. S. Njoroge also owns the extensive Kelelwa Ranch in Koibatek, which is less than 10km from Kabarak, where he rears cattle and goats. The 10,000 acre Gitomwa Farm—acronym for Gichuru, Tony and Mwaura—is owned by the family of the former Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited (KPLC) managing director, Samuel Gichuru. Tony and Mwaura are his sons.
Another 10,000 acre farm in Mau Narok belongs to the family of the late Mbiyu Koinange, Kenyatta’s side-kick and powerful minister of state in the Office of the President. His Muthera Farm (4,000ha) is leased to different people to grow wheat, while a group of squatters is demanding a piece of it. The owners are yet to clear the Sh7 million Settlement Transfer Fund loan.
Ford-People leader Simeon Nyachae’s Kabansora Holdings owns 4,000ha in the area. Former Rongai MP Willy Komen’s family owns 10,000 acres — 5,000ha adjacent to Moi’s Kabarak Farm and another 4,800ha near Ngata in Njoro.
Coast Province was not spared. Kenyatta family owns almost 15% the prime resort land in the province, besides a huge sisal plantation spanning both Taita and Taveta districts, safely watched by his son-in-law and former MP Marsden Madoka, and another close friend to Uhuru Kenyatta, and current Minister in Kibaki’s illegitimate government, Naomi Shaban.
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Post by job on Jan 26, 2008 2:34:53 GMT 3
PART 4
Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki land holdings
Kenya’s two former First Families and the family of President Mwai Kibaki are among the biggest landowners in the country.The extended Kenyatta family alone owns an estimated 500,000 acres — approximately the size of Nyanza Province — according to estimates by independent surveyors and Ministry of Lands officials. (This report first appeared in the Standard Newspaper report by Mr. Otsieno Namwaya)
The Kibaki and Moi families also own large tracts, most held in the names of sons and daughters and other close family members, all concentrated within the 17.2 % of Kenya that is arable or valued. Remember that 80 per cent of all land in Kenya is mostly arid and semi arid land.
According to the Kenya Land Alliance, more than a 65% of all arable land in Kenya is in the hands of only 20 per cent of the 35 million Kenyans. That has left millions absolutely landless while another 67 per cent on average own less than an acre per person.
The building land crises in the country, experts say, will be difficult to solve because the most powerful people in the country are also among its biggest landowners. The tracts of land under the Kenyatta family are so widely distributed within the numerous members in various parts of the country that it is an almost impossible task to locate all of them and establish their exact sizes.
During Kenyatta’s 15-year tenure in State House, he used the elaborate STFS scheme funded by the World Bank and the British Government, to acquired large pieces of land all over the country. Other tracts, he easily allocated to his family.
Among the best-known parcels owned by Kenyatta’s family, for instance, are the 24, 000 acres in Taveta sub-district adjacent to the 74, 000 acres owned by former MP Basil Criticos. Others are 50, 000 acres in Taita that is currently under Mrs Beth Mugo, an Assistant minister of Education and niece of Kenyatta, 29, 000 acres in Kahawa Sukari along the Nairobi—Thika highway, the 10, 000 acre Gichea Farm in Gatundu, 5, 000 acres in Thika, 9,000 acres in Kasarani and the 5, 000-acre Muthaita Farm.
These are beside others such as Brookside Farm, Green Lee Estate, Njagu Farm in Juja, a quarry in Dandora in Nairobi and a 10, 000-acre ranch in Naivasha. There is another 200 acres in Mombasa, and 250 acres in Malindi.
Other pieces of land owned by the Kenyatta family include the 52,000-acre farm in Nakuru and a 20,000-acre one, also known as Gichea Farm, in Bahati under Kenyatta’s daughter, Margaret. Besides, Mama Ngina Kenyatta, widow of the former President, owns another 10, 000 acres in Rumuruti while a close relative of the Kenyatta family, a Mrs Kamau, has 40,000 acres in Endebes in the Rift Valley Province.
Uhuru owns 5,000 acres in Eldoret, 3,000 acres in Rongai and 12,000 acres in Naivasha, 100 acres in Karen, and 200 acres in Dagoretti. A 1,000-acre farm in Dagoretti is owned by Kenyatta’s first wife Wahu.
It is also understood that part of the land on which Kenyatta and Jomo Kenyatta Universities are constructed initially belonged the Criticos family. The government bought the land from him in 1972 under the Settlement Transfer Fund Scheme and transferred to the Kenyatta family the same day Criticos sold it to the government. Land for the two universities was subsequently sold partly and a portion donated by the family.
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Post by job on Jan 26, 2008 2:39:12 GMT 3
PART 5
One of President Kibaki’s earliest grabs is the 1,200-acre Gingalily Farm along the Nakuru-Solai road. And in the 1970s, Kibaki, who was then the minister for Finance under Kenyatta, via STFS transferred to himself, 10, 000 acres in Bahati from the then Agriculture minister Bruce Mckenzie.
Kibaki also owns another 10, 000 acres at Igwamiti in Laikipia and 10, 000 acres in Rumuruti in Naivasha. These are in addition to the 1,600 acre Ruare Ranch.
Just next to Kibaki’s Bahati land are Moi’s 20, 000 acres although his best known piece of land is the 1,600 Kabarak Farm on which he has retired. It is one of the most well utilised farms in the area, with wheat, maize and dairy cattle.
The former President owns another 20, 000 acres in Olenguruoni in Rift Valley, on which he is growing tea and has also built the Kiptakich Tea Factory (recently torched). He also has some 20, 000 acres in Molo. He also has another 3, 000-acre farm in Bahati on both sides of the Nakuru/Nyahururu road where he grows coffee and some 400 acres in Nakuru on which he was initially growing coffee.
The former President also owns the controversy ridden 50, 000 acre Ol Pajeta Farm—part of which has Ol Pajeta ranch in Rumuruti, Laikipia. Some time in 2004 Moi put out an advert in the press warning the public that some unknown people were sub-dividing and selling it.
Can solutions can be offered to address these land problems?
This is clearly a socio-political problem that requires a political solution. It involves digging up the archives, consulting experts, policy makers, local politicians and community elders to find a comprehensive solution.
Such formulated blueprints can then be sold to Kenyans of all creed, race, religion and ethnicity in a publicity campaign that seeks to draw in as many supporters as possible. A responsive political party genuinely keen to tackle this tough problem can actually sell a comprehensive and just land reform policy as part of its manifesto.
These must be cognizant of the constitutional implications concerned in addressing past and present land issues.
Guess what. This incidentally happened already. ODM party, using the Bomas draft constitution which proposes to establish a National Land Commission sold this idea to Kenyans during the referendum campaigns and at the 2007 General election campaigns.
Many Kenyans especially those directly affected by landlessness chose to give this idea a test. That party attributed to ODM’s resounding win over Kibaki’s PNU which prefers to sleep over the land issue quietly.
But before the coronation of ODM into government, Kivuitu and his ECK had other ideas. Blatant and daylight robbery of an outright electoral win by ODM was executed by Kivuitu and ECK to illegitimately hand over power to Kibaki.
None of the confident voters who were determined to start demanding results and accountability with regards to land and other biting issues such as unemployment and poverty, from the NEW government they elected seem ready to take Kibaki’s attempted robbery lightly.
What we are witnessing in Rift Valley, lately in Nakuru, may just escalate to new heights considering the fundamental weight of the underlying blood and soil issue of land.
Job
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Post by adui on Jan 26, 2008 20:11:12 GMT 3
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Post by gakungu on Jan 26, 2008 21:05:53 GMT 3
Job,
A great piece.
I am sincerely awed by your analytical mind.
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Post by mose2006 on Jan 27, 2008 2:50:19 GMT 3
I have read a lot of books and articles saying things like "the colonialists handed over imperialism and the stolen land to the neo-colonialists" and for those of us who don't have the resources to do any quantitative research on this, the words sound good but make little meaning, like may abstract political ideals. Thank you for your data and quantitative analysis. Thanks for citing some sources too. I wish you would provide more. Thanks too for mentioning the Kenya Land Alliance. I don't know much about it but it seems cool. I just checked them out: www.kenyalandalliance.or.keNo Kikuyu or any other tribesman would rather live in poverty while their "leader" basks on an "acquired" 5, 000 acre piece of land. The more actual, digestible information people know about their land and their rights, the more it makes sense to want to care about the constitutional change. And ultimately, more voters will vote less along tribal lines.
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Post by Titchaz on Jan 27, 2008 6:00:07 GMT 3
Ndugu Job,
Umefanya poa sana kuainisha hali halisi kama ilivyo.Hawa watawala wetu wanamambo ya kusikitisha kwelikweli.Ni mabepari wa kupindukia na n'do maana Mwalimu Kambarage Nyerere alikua hataki uhusiano nao.Hili swala la mashamba lazima litafutiwe suluhisho la kudumu.Hawa viongozi wetu vizabizabina, kama kweli wanajali maslahi ya walalahoi basi ni bora tu wakatie watu mashamba ya kuishi.Mtu ana maelfu na maelfu ya ekari za shamba na kwa upande wa pili kuna jamaa wanaishi watu mia kwenye eka moja???Hii kitu vipi jamani mimi naona ngumu sana kuelewa.Wote hawa wahuni ni wezi tu na hawana dili wala nini.Akhhhhhhh!!!!
Ab-Titchaz wa Kisauni,Mombasa Mnyonge mnyongeni na haki yake mpeni.
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Post by theanarchomugikuyu on Jan 27, 2008 6:21:36 GMT 3
You've chosen a desperately unfortunate title for your essay; inadvertently, one hopes.
Not to spoil the party, but the Bomas Draft only provided for the establishment of a National Land Commission, amongst whose designated powers were the right to initiate investigations into historical injustices in land acquisition. See Section 85, 2(g). There's not a lot about land allocations, unjust or otherwise, in the devolution section, and nor would one expect there to be, since, presumably, the allocation of land is a matter of national importance. The claim that the Bomas Draft outlines a programme for the resolution of the land issue is hopeful, rather than accurate. The claim that ODM is campaigned on the issue is neither.
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Post by dubois on Jan 27, 2008 6:37:46 GMT 3
While this report was spot on, I highly doubt that any of our leaders including ODM have the moral credibility to introduce radical changes to Kenya's land policy. Senior members of ODM including Ruto, Sally & Henry (basically the senior ODM Kalenjin reps) are beneficiaries of land grabbing. It is unfortunate that the report does not mention some ODM individuals who are reputed to own thousands of acres in Rift Valley province. The ODM captain is also implicated in land irregularities and his deputy is a beneficiary of grand corruption. If these are the leaders that Kenyans are looking up to, then we have a long way to go.
But truth be told, the recent violence in R.V has little to do with Kibaki's win or years of wanton land grabbing by succesive governments. If the violence was indeed directly related to land grabbing, it would be more likely that the Kalenjin and Kikuyu peasant would come together and attack the likes of Ruto, Kenyatta and so on. Majority of the Kikuyus in R.V are not beneficiaries of land grabbing but are simply hard working Kenyans who have literally given their life to acquire some small piece of land. I therefore particularly take issue with this statement, "Using the political and economic leverage available to them during the Kenyatta regime, the Kikuyu, took advantage of the situation and formed many land-buying companies. These companies would, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, facilitate the settlement of hundreds of thousands of Kikuyu in the Rift Valley," The statement implies that the R.V Kikuyu diaspora were as a whole beneficiaries of land grabbing during Kenyatta's regime. In actual fact, many of these land buying companies were controlled by elite Kikuyus, for example Kihika Kimani, who were close to the the Kenyatta government. Among the ordinary Kikuyus who left their native homes for R.V, there is a significant number that died without ever owning land. And for those who eventually bought land, many did so during Moi's regime because before then, land was simply unaffordable for the common man. So, the suggestion that the post-election ethnic cleansing victims are somehow responsible for their plight is totally disgusting.
What we are currently witnessing in R.V is ethnic warfare fuelled by land grabbers, grand looters and murderers in search for political power. I know that the ODM folks are trying their best to extricate the likes of Raila and Ruto from charges of ethnic cleansing but soon it will be clear for all to see. Even if all the Kikuyus or Kisiis are chased away from R.V, will Kenyatta or Moi or Ruto return stolen land? Furthermore, can any reasonable person not make a connection between the open incitement during the campaign period, by the ODM, against Kikuyus and what is happening now? Be it majimbo, 41 against 1 or even the crude term "panua", all these strategies were meant to isolate and dehumanize Kikuyus. When I was back home, some folks told me that equity bank was a government project meant to pay KSH 4000 monthly to all Kikuyus for belonging to the right ethnicity - those folks were dead serious. Their source of information was- you guessed it!- ODM party agents. About two days ago, I read about events in Kisumu and again it was the same theme. Basically some residents argued that some communities (Kikuyus) were funded by the government to start businesses and that's the reason why they were so dominant.
In conclusion, we do have fundamental problems with our constitution and land policy. In my opinion, until we come up with a better constitution, Kenya will always be on the edge of chaos. However, the violence in R.V is purely criminal and no amount of "rigged elections" or "land crisis" can justify what is happening. In our quest to seek justice and healing for our nation the perpetrators of ethnic violence since 1963 must be identified and charged or at least barred permanently from elective office.
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Post by adongo23456 on Jan 27, 2008 7:07:42 GMT 3
Dubois and whoever that other fellow is
Don't you think it is a shame that none of you can master the courage to talk about land grabbing by the two leading Kikuyu ruling families who have robbed more land from the Agikuyu communities than from any other group of people in the country.
According to Job's report which none of you have disputed, the Kenyatta family with his friends in Kiambu like Njenga Karume and others plus the Kibaki family with friends from Nyeri and Murang'a have robbed more land from Kenyans of the Agikuyu background than anybody else. Not a word about that whole atrocity! Shame on you folks.
Instead it is all about the Kalenjins and how the chase for Raila and Ruto is getting close. It is nonsense and you know it. How pitiful is that. Good luck in your mission. The nation will move on.
It may be comfortable to bury our heads in the sand even as the world around us turns upside down, but how about if even the sand gets choked with the nausea? Then what? That is a question we must ask now.
adongo
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Post by Titchaz on Jan 27, 2008 9:16:21 GMT 3
Bw Adongo, Hao mabwana wawili hapo juu wanataka kutupaka mafuta kwa mgongo wa chupa. Yaani hata hawastaajabu na uwizi wa hizi serikali tatu tulizokuwa nazo toka uhuru bali wanajaribu kutetea hali ilivyokua?Tena kama ilivyokawaida ya wana-PNU, kila wanapoletewa maswala ya changamoto wanageuza mada na kuanza kusema Raila hivi mara Raila vile,mara ODM hivi mara ODM vile.Jadili mada husika katika muktadha muafaka aisee.Otherwise ni utumbo tu mnaoletea watu huku mkijificha, chambelecho asemavyo Ustadh OO, nyuma ya kivuli cha Agikuyu Nationalism. Sasa Wakenya wengine tunaanza kuelewa kiini cha Kibaki na wezi wake kukataa ile katiba ya Bomas of Kenya.Sasa pia Wakenya wengine tunaanza kueleza chanzo cha Kibaki kuiba kura zetu. Kama ulivyosema Adongo, ODM waliuza sera zao kwa utimilifu na watu wakaamini hususan kuhusu hii ishu ya ardhi.Wakikuyu sio walioiba mashamba la!...bali ni mabepari kadhaa katika hizi serikali zetu afu wakageuka na wakitumia wanajamii ya kikuyu kama chambo.Makosa yamefanyika na watu wanauchu wa kujikomboa kwa vyovyote vile na walionyesha kupitia kura zao.Sasa unataka wafanyeje kutetea haki zao?Kumbuka wengi wao ni walalahoi na hawana jinsi nyengine ya kuonyesha hasira yao ni kwa kupitia maandamano ya Amani...lakini serikali ya Kibaki pia hii wamekataa.Yaani pia matangani wanatupa mabomu ya machozi????Hawa watu vipi aisee? Hawathamini maisha ya watu? Suluhisho la kudumu lazima lipatikane awamu hii na naamini ni kupitia serikali ya ODM na Raila Oginga akiwa Rais.Fanyeni shime na hii ishu maana kadri tunavyozidi kuilea basi nd'o watu wanazidi kuumia.Mungu Ibariki Kenya.! Ab-Titchaz wa Kisauni,Mombasa. Mnyonge mnyongeni na haki ya mpeni.
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Post by dubois on Jan 27, 2008 10:16:44 GMT 3
Dubois and whoever that other fellow isDon't you think it is a shame that none of you can master the courage to talk about land grabbing by the two leading Kikuyu ruling families who have robbed more land from the Agikuyu communities than from any other group of people in the country. According to Job's report which none of you have disputed, the Kenyatta family with his friends in Kiambu like Njenga Karume and others plus the Kibaki family with friends from Nyeri and Murang'a have robbed more land from Kenyans of the Agikuyu background than anybody else. Not a word about that whole atrocity! Shame on you folks. Instead it is all about the Kalenjins and how the chase for Raila and Ruto is getting close. It is nonsense and you know it. How pitiful is that. Good luck in your mission. The nation will move on. It may be comfortable to bury our heads in the sand even as the world around us turns upside down, but how about if even the sand gets choked with the nausea? Then what? That is a question we must ask now. adongo Adongo, Your rapid metamorphosis from a sober activist to a rumbling sycophant is rather shocking but that is not the issue here. Neither Kenyatta nor Karume is responsible for the deaths and the eviction of hundreds of Kikuyus from the Rift Valley. Like I wrote before, land grabbing by Kenyan leaders (and not just the PNU affiliated ones) has caused enormous suffering to millions. But, despite this huge problem, the violence in R.V is politically motivated and directed against a particular ethnic community. It is an open secret that the violence was pre-meditated and organized by the ODM party. It is therefore futile for a few actvists to try and distract Kenyans with a few sideshows. Dubois.
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Post by kamalet on Jan 27, 2008 13:29:19 GMT 3
Whilst I want to agree with Job that the political elite in the Kenyatta and Moi governments allocated themselves huge tracts of land whilst others through financing of one kind or other managed to get the huge tracts of land, I am struggling to reconcile this with the number of small holder farmers being evicted in Rift Valley by their Kalenjin brothers under the guise of a historical land problem. Most of the land in Transz Nzioa for instance that is owned by many luhyias is not as a result of SFT but groups buying land from settlers. There are people that owned between 3 and 20 acre shambas who now have been chased out. Can we relate this with a 'historical' problem as explained by Job?
I do not think so. Our farm in Njoro that borders the Ngata farm has only a handful of neighbours.....all Kalenjin elites allocated the land by Moi from the Ngata farm previously owned by ADC. Across the road you will find the huge Gicheha farm owned by Kenyatta. Now here are two examples of injustice that can not justify the untold human suffering that has befallen the small holders be they Kikuyus, Luhyias or Kisii.
To my recollection, the SFT (apparently they still exist even today!!) were buying land from departing settlers and selling them cheaply to Kenyans who needed to own land. These people were more located in the Central province and Laikipia areas. I recall my late father telling me about the options he had to buy an SFT farm in the Ndudori area or join a land buying company. The problem with the SFT farms was that they were split into two categories - the rich who would get 30 acres for 16,500 shillings or 6.5 acres for 5,000 shillings. Now that was a lot of money in 1965, so it is easy to imagine the options that were available to junior civil servants and teachers.
I think we make a lot of capital on alleged historical issues whilst as Job says, this is nothing to do with the ordinary Kikuyu or Luhyia that bought a plot of Land - not from the colonial farmers, but local Kalenjins. They cannot come back claim that this land was stolen from them!!!
Finally, the ethnic cleansing at the moment has nothing to do with land - it is a 5 year cycle of violence. If it had anything to do with land, perhaps the mayhem we saw in Eldoret should have been there in 2005 for the referendum!
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Post by demogod on Jan 27, 2008 13:59:28 GMT 3
Dubois/Kamalet:
While I agree that alot of the land in Kenya is stolen by politicians, currently riding in some of the political parties in Kenya. However, I totally disagree that the violence currently experienced in R.V is ODM organised. It may seem like that and the "sitting" government has done everything in their power to manipulate this issue, and ensuring that this is blamed on the opposition. As much I would like to give alot of information, it will later prove with overwhelming evidence that the violence that is currently experienced is all because of the "stolen" election, and there is some element of government involved in this violence. The people's expectation in the last election was that change was going to come, and alot of the issues that have been swept in the past will be reslved over time. There was hope, but all the hope disintegrated on the day Kibaki "stole" the elections.
Kenya has a long history of violence every 5 years during elections, but alot of the violence has been surpressed by the previous regimes. Unfortunately, this time the people had enough of "corruption", and they wanted change, and they wanted it to happen now. It did not come, and people of Kenya took the matters in their own hands! As you can see, there is no government in place, its total anarchy outside Nairobi. Although police, army, GSU may have been deployed in certain areas to counter the violence, they have been outmatched and outnumbered by the people's "army" which comes in many groups and linkages.
If Kibaki & PNU think they can rule Kenya from Nairobi & SH, then they are totally mistaken. Kenya at this present can't be governed unless Kibaki steps down and calls for re-run of the elections. If that does not happen, we are going to be state similar to Iraq where militia will rule and each region will have its own army and rules. This is not a pipe dream, it is happening as we speak.
The only other thing that can happen to resolve this issue quickly and immediately is that there is a "coup" by the army, and they take control of the country immediately. And we hope they pave the way for elections to be held again in the next 6-12 nmonths. We are talking about a similar situation as Thailand, where the army took over the government and they recently held elections. Although, Thailand was a bloodless coup, I dont think in Kenya we have such a situation in place.
It's going to be a very painful experience for kenya and its people to go through a revolution, and it is going to happen no matter we like it or not, Kibaki & its cronies will not rule Kenya for long. We are just at the begginning of the battle, the picture ain't looking good!
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Post by eosir on Jan 27, 2008 14:46:02 GMT 3
Dear Demogod,
Let's be careful with this 'army takeover' talk guys! The road back to democracy will be very long indeed once our indisciplined forces are let loose. I would not even begin to compare Kenya with Thailand, where the circumstances for the return to civilian rule were substantially different. Don't forget also that the Thais have a most revered King without whose blessing even the army could not have ruled even for a day. This is not mention the complex trial situation in Kenya.
I think ODM and the international community MUST insist on a new constitution and fresh polls soonest. If Kibaki and PNU refuse then declare a parallel government (with seat in Eldoret) and majimbo in friendly areas. Time is of the essence.
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Post by gulavi on Jan 27, 2008 16:01:12 GMT 3
Fellow country Men and Women. Why do we sit here and pretend like the whole of Kenya has been peacefull as your sickening rulers have been dosing us with this Shit time imemorial since kenyatas Days. They even made songs on this shit "peacefull country" The shifta war is been an on going situation the entire northern kenya and parts of rift valley have known violence ever since. Why are we surprised that the kalenjins are killing kikuyus and vice versa when this is been going on and stupidly instead of mentioning this we discuss it as if its not been there. This time it only became larger and swift, and as Kofi annan said , unless the situation is dealt with it will still happen and not only for the kalenjins killing kikuyus and vice versa. In moi's time the luos, luhyas were murdered by the kalenjins and vice versa, Good luck raila has been in contact with this communities and the elders, this has defused the tensions on the luhya kalenjin luo borders, though not fully. Raila even made a passionate appeal to have the kikuyu elders meet the Luo elders and difuse all this shit about tribalism, believe me this could have brought even elders of other communities on board with the kikuyu elders but he got a rude shock , this was not neccessary , He was told. This tribalism Shit affect all at different times. The only solution and none other is to stop practice of tribalism from the presidency which definately has never and will never happen so long as you have Kibaki in office.
The struggle is on
Makokha Ongalo
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Post by adongo23456 on Jan 27, 2008 17:21:10 GMT 3
Dubois
You folks are a waste of time. You are still busy with this nonsense of "pre-meditated" plans by ODM to do this and that talking about who organized violence when and yet even as we speak there are thousands of people in Nakuru, in Naivasha in Nairobi organizing, planning and executing tribal pogroms and murdering people literally in hundreds every day. Do you guys even read the news or your calender stopped on January 3rd 2008? Try catching up with what is going before you go back to your anti-ODM tirade.
What this thread is about which obviously you are having difficulties with are the underlying issues of land grabbing by the thieves in power who are today shedding their disgusting crocodile tears about people being killed.
Imagine the amount of land owned by Kibaki and the Moi family just in Nakuru area alone. It is enormous. And people are killing each other over little patches of land and burning down huts and shacks hoping to grab the land when gigantic farms owned by the ruling oligarchy sits by. Kibaki cannot even allow the "refugees" to settle at least even temporarily in his huge farms in Nakuru. Instead he dumps them in open fields and is very comfortable at State House as the nation burns. And that is the king for people like Dubois whose job is to protect Kikuyus. Nobody has done more harm to the Kikuyus than the Kibakis and Michukis of Kenya and nobody has robbed more land from the same people. Why you must keep worshiping these criminals is the mystery but there is freedom of worship in Kenya.
If there is one good thing that is going to come out of this nightmare in the country, it is the fact that the land issue must be addressed comprehensively NOW. That is a fact nobody is going to avoid.
adongo
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Post by afrigun on Jan 27, 2008 19:04:51 GMT 3
The land issue is the powder keg the Kenyatta and our independence leaders left the country holding, and it will have to be resolved one way or the other, peacefully or violently. and those pretending that it was not an issue in the recent elections, or in the current violence in RV are destined to wake up and find the entire country burning around them.
the entire matter is definitely historical in two aspects in that firstly, land was a major factor in the struggle for independence, none more so than for the Kikuyu community. in fact it was the basis of the MAU MAU struggle. the MAU MAU were fighting to liberate their ancestral land from the colonialists.
they did not fight to be allocated Maasai or Kalenjin or even Miji Kenda land. the expectation of all the independence fighters from all communities was that after independence they would respectively get back their community land which had been grabbed from them by the colonialists. None of them expected that they would be "compensated" with other peoples land.
Job has set out very briefly examples of what traspired once the land was recovered from the colonialists: instead of being returned to its rightful owners, it was parcelled out to neo-grabbers. Some in pretended restitution to the community like the allocations within kikuyu land which went to ethnic kikuyus, and others in outright perpetuation of the colonialist mentality that the land did not deserve to be utilised by the original communities who owned thesame, which is what happened in the rift valley, Coast and elsewhere where people other than the original owners were allocated the land.
this has bred a situation we have to grapple with today:the kikuyu who fought so bitterly for their land only to see it given out to their elitist kin are still landless. some have tried to acquire land elsewhere, only to find themselves owning parts of the land which had originally been stolen from other communities in the Rift Valley and elsewhere. and which are still subject to claims of restitution since colonial times.
on a second limb, it is a historical fact that the Kenyatta government did in fact go out of its way to facilitate the acquisition of the second category of land by kikuyus and that is why they can be found in most of the SFT land all over Kenya.
the question of land drove the Kikuyu to war with the colonialists. Every single Kenyan and tribe understands the importance of land in the struggle for independence.
it is therefore foolhardy to expect that the communities whoes lands were parcelled out to "foreigners" have not nursed a grudge about it all along, and that it was just a matter of time before it found expression.
Kenyattas the government mishandled the land question rihght from the beginning. Mois compounded it, and Kibaki being a beneficiary of both, is merely fighting to retain the booty.
unfortunatley, this is a matter which is not going away soon, and it cannot be swept under the carpet. The Kaya Bombo clashes where the coatls sought to eject "foreigners" and the rift valley clashes of the past were omens which should have caused the government to address the issue, but they were swept under the carpet.
there have been rumblings all over the country and i wouldnt be surprised if the violence does not spread to the other places mentioned in jobs article.
there are, of course some very base iundividuals who having sold their land to willing buyers, are taking advantage of the situation to "recover" the same. But who can blame them if the basis upon which the Kenyan society is built is that it is ok to grab someones land or property and give it to your Kin or friends and nothing will come of it. The colonialists did it and the post independence governments did it.
this is the genesis of all the theft of private and public property, corruption, impunity and other injustices culminating in the big election theft all of which must be addressed before the country can move on.
and unless they are addressed peacfully and honestly, violence shall , sooner or later, eventually be the only avenue. sadly, but true.
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Post by politicalmaniac on Jan 27, 2008 19:10:39 GMT 3
Job great piece as usual
No wonder gedion said that there would be "war" should the Ndungu land report be implemented. These guys are sitting on huge tracts of land worth billions of ksh at the expense of the displaced Kenyans who were conned out of theri land before and immeadiately after Independence.
The land issue was definately going to be explosive should ODM have assumed power and started on deliberations. But the current clashes have made it easier to talk and solve this problem.
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Post by insidious on Jan 27, 2008 21:31:03 GMT 3
Job Impeccable piece especially because as a child, i did visit some of these farms by default and they are indeed as you articulate. One farm that is pretty apparent is Kenyatta's 52 000 acre Gichea farm right outside Nakuru on your way to Rongai that runs alongside the Nakuru-Kericho road with 4 majestic gates along this end of the farm. It covers almost the entire west end of Nakuru District.
The traditional gimmick has always been to redirect attention to white settlers, the British etc and the likes of Odinga and yet the real criminals are right under our noses. One interesting observation is that alongside most of the farms or rather right at the perimeter is a multitude of squatters typically seeking jobs with the hope of curving out an acre or two through years of 'slave' labor and meager wages. Besides, these criminals are in government so how does a squatter challenge such an individual?
These families are part of the problem and one wonders why they prefer the status quo?
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Post by mzee on Jan 31, 2008 21:00:08 GMT 3
When Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga said that Kenyatta was a land grabber Daniel Moi was just too pissed. Many accused Jaramogi of "unnecessarily" attacking Kenyatta.
If we had accepted that there was land grabbing and addressed the problem we would be singing another song today.
Who is now ready to defend Kenyatta? Please stand up and be seen and heard.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2013 19:00:29 GMT 3
When Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga said that Kenyatta was a land grabber Daniel Moi was just too pissed. Many accused Jaramogi of "unnecessarily" attacking Kenyatta. If we had accepted that there was land grabbing and addressed the problem we would be singing another song today. Who is now ready to defend Kenyatta? Please stand up and be seen and heard. Ta imagine how cheap the rich can be. The cheapness of Ngina ( she ain't my mother, as such I don't have to call her mama) and her children is mind boggling. Theifing from your own realatives when you already have stolen soooooooo much from Kenyans. And now Ngina's brat doesn't have to answer. Aguluki!Uhuru cannot be sued, say lawyers PRESIDENT Uhuru’s name has been struck out from a case filed against him and his mother Mama Ngina by their relative over allegations of land grabbing. The constitution gives the president immunity of legal proceedings. Peter Ngengi, a brother of the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta had accused Uhuru and his mother of wrongfully depriving him of his three and a half acres of land at Ichaweri village in Gatundu, Kiambu county. Mungai filed the case on October 7, 2012 seeking orders to compel Uhuru, who was then Deputy Prime Minister and his mother to return the land to him. The case against the two had not reached the hearing stage. On August 15, lawyer William Kabaiku filed an objection in court stating. “The petitioners claim against the second respondent cannot be continued in view of the provisions of article 143 (2) of the constitution," he said. The article states that “civil proceedings shall not be instituted in any court against the President or the person performing the functions of that office during their tenure of office in respect of anything done or not done in the exercise of their powers under this constitution”. Lawyers acting for the three parties yesterday told justice Mumbi Ngugi that they had agreed by consent to remove Uhuru's name from the case. Ngugi, who handles constitutional and human rights cases, directed the file to be taken to the presiding judge in the Lands Division for mention on October 8. “This matter pertains to title of land and property and it falls under the land and environmental division,” she said. Mungai said his land was wrongfully taken from him and given to the first president by the Lands ministry. He said Kenyatta and his family took his land to expand their home. Mungai said the former was warned by their father not to move anyone from his land. But after their father died, the beacons dividing Mungai's and Kenyatta's land were uprooted by the former president. “I put the beacons back to their rightful positions,” Mungai sid in a sworn affidavit. Mungai wants the court to order Mama Ngina to compensate him for dispossession. He also wants the court to order the government to repossess the three and a half acres from her and give it to him. www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-132408/uhuru-cannot-be-sued-say-lawyers
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Post by jakaswanga on Apr 29, 2015 21:04:17 GMT 3
Wed. April 29, 2015 Daggers drawn over disputed landwww.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/Daggers-drawn-over-disputed-land/-/957860/2701118/-/fgw65vz/-/index.html Ancestral Land versus a title deed issued by the state. The modern state. In full jurisdiction of the land. Lets hear some more. It is a small story with mammoth implications. Like a small fuse to an atomic bomb. THE LOCAL COMMUNITY COULD NOT GIVE ANY PROOF OF THE LAND'S OWNERSHIP! It reminds me of the Queen of England versus the Kikuyus. Kikuyuland was declared the whiteman's highlands. The Kikuyus disagreed. The Queen's counsel asked the Kikuyu'us to prove ownership. The Kikuyu's could not attach WRITTEN tender valid in the Queen's court. ' 'Ati Ngai gave you goats this land?'' the QC derided. ''You goats are now the Queen's property, and here is the seal.''The Kikuyu's still disagreed. And so the war came, and it would take quite a bloody episode in our history to raise our own flag. So when I heard that a Kenyan court in 2008 asked a ''local community to prove the land is ancestral –--and that local community could not! I felt a stab in my heart and thought, I know how this kind of quagmire tends to develop. We seen it before, right here in Kenya. Let us visit the late handle Job of Jukwaa in this thread: jukwaa.proboards.com/thread/1872 I must say I have no proof Luoland is the ancestral land of Luos neither. When Museveni asks me to prove Migingo is in Kenya, I should be tongue-tied. NB: When Ouru came to Kisumu to teach us how to dig pit latrines and sleep under mosquito nets last week during the devolution caucus of governors, we cheered him wildly. Of course we had agreed not to mention Migingo! Ouru would not know what that is in the first place!? So we let it pass and had a party. Ouru enjoyed the ahangla bash like he was born in it. Let us continue the Mai Mahiu story. ''which title deed'': the unforgeable ancestral, or the ones from the Land Office which Ngilu or Sikhs can lock and audit!? FOOTNOTE: TIC TOC TIC TOC!? PART 1 WHO OWNS THE LAND? BLOOD AND SOIL ISSUE. The passion with which millions of wananchi valued their presidential vote in the stolen 2007 presidential elections can be reflected in scenes of the bloody post-election clashes today that engulf Rift Valley, Nyanza, Coast, Nairobi, Western and to a less extent in other parts of the country. Nakuru is now the latest epicenter of inter ethnic murders. The violent reactions to rigged elections may reflect the pain of deep and historically rooted injustices some of which predate Kenya’s independence in 1963. They are in fact motivated and exacerbated by landlessness, joblessness, and poverty believed to be heavily contributed towards by the prevailing political status quo that has dominated Kenya since independence. This is a system that has continuously perpetrated, in successive fashion, socio-economic injustices that have been seamlessly transferred from one power regime to the next. The Land Issue. With a fast growing population in Kenya, limited resources including land and jobs, have severely been put in extreme pressure. Responsive political operatives cognizant of this reality have appreciated the importance of incorporating progressive policies that seek to aggressively address poverty, landlessness, unequal distribution of resources and unemployment, as a matter of priority (in their party manifestoes) if any social stability is to be maintained in Kenya. Without doubt, the opposition party ODM sold an attractive campaign package that sought to address historic land injustices, unemployment, inequitable resource sharing and poverty through a radical constitutional transformation, under the framework of the people-tailored Bomas Constitution Draft. ODM proposed to tackle the land problem through clauses in the Bomas draft, captured under devolution and land chapters, with specific plans to form a National Land Commission to address the issue of landlessness and historic injustices of expropriation of native land by colonial and post-colonial powers. The roots of the land conflicts in Rift Valley land lie with the former colonial power, Britain; post-independence land policies by the Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki administrations; and the tendency for ethnic favouritism and patronage by power wielders. Colonial expropriation of native lands in Rift Valley and Coast. In a nutshell, the British settlers literally grabbed native Maasai and Kalenjin lands in Rift Valley and Miji-Kenda, Taita and Taveta land at the Coast. At the Coast, there was also the added grabbing hand of the Middle-East Sultans who lay claim to another Coastal strip. Millions of voters from these communities (now deeply affected by landlessness and poverty) are today largely drawn towards ODM’s reform policies that seek to address these INJUSTICES. Long before Independence, vast arable tracts of the Rift Valley were designated as White Highlands, reserved for European settlers. The pastoralist communities, mainly Kalenjin and Maasai, were simply moved away. The 1904 and 1911 Anglo-Maasai land “Agreements” details the unjust grabbing of Maasai lands in Laikipia, Naivasha, Ngong, Karen, and tracts along the Uganda Railway line whereby uneducated Maasai Laibons either friendly to, or fearful of the British (christened Paramount Chiefs) like Lanana Ole Mbatian, were cajoled and intimidated into giving away native fertile Maasai land to the colonialists. The words in the “Agreements” read like ……”we the undersigned, being the Laibons of clans of Maasai, have of our own free will, decided that it is for OUR best interests to REMOVE OUR PEOPLE, FLOCKS, AND HERDS into definite reservations away from the Railway line and away from European settlements…..” and “…..In conclusion, we wish to state that we are quite satisfied with the foregoing arrangement, and we bind ourselves and our successors, as well as OUR PEOPLE, to observe them as long as the Maasai as a race shall exist..” The next thing we knew was that the Maasai were crumbled into arid portions of present day Kajiado and Narok districts. Grazing fields, and the very pastoral lifestyle of the Maasai instantly became threatened and continues to do so as we speak, without any restitution, compensation or pro-active rehabilitation into another life. 100 years later, when asked to address this burning Maasai land issue, former Lands Minister appointed by Mwai Kibaki, Mr. Amos Kimunya, once told the Maasai that there was nothing to address since the wise Maasai forefathers had given away their land to the British in a BINDING AGREEMENT which continues to apply to date. Well, similar horrid but true stories applied in Kalenjin lands of Rift Valley and at the Coast too. Before independence, Kenyan political parties argued over whether the native land should be returned to the indigenous population under a federalist system of government or kept firmly under the control of a centralised state. Needless to add, those who favoured the latter option, in the form of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), which went on to form a government under Jomo Kenyatta, prevailed.
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