Solve the land question in Rift Valley for lasting peace

By Kipchumba Murkomen

The Rift Valley has witnessed inter-community conflicts of various degrees for a long time.

The conflicts are initiated and sustained by different actors for diverse reasons.

Clashes among pastoralists such as the Pokot, Turkana and Samburu have been justified on cultural grounds and often receive less attention from the State.

These communities risk losing "foreign" investments, which they direly need to improve the socio-economic conditions and supplement their constitutional share of at least 15 per cent of national revenue.

Then other conflict is between early inhabitants and late immigrants, especially post-independence settlers. These conflicts are frequently witnessed between Maasai and Kalenjin on one hand and the Kikuyu, Kisii and Luhya on the other.

But the conflict between the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu has inspired this article. There has never been a genuine attempt from the Government and local politicians to address this conflict. Instead, the tribal clashes have been used as tramp card for political mobilisation. To several politicians, solving this problem is abandoning a campaign agenda, which would render them obsolete. As such, the latest prescription is the "KK" alliance (with another K being a mere mock) while in true sense it is a vehicle for selfish political ends. But what is the problem?

The major cause of clashes between the two is land. The struggle for independence was fuelled primarily by Africans’ demand for land rights. When whites invaded Kenya, they did not buy land from Kenyans; they grabbed. The Maasai were hoodwinked to sign agreements later declared by imperial courts to be non-enforceable.

Mau Mau was formed to principally fight for restoration of Kikuyu land. Kalenjin leaders, including Koitalel arap Samoei, were martyred in their struggle for freedom and land rights.

In preparation for independence, Europeans sanitised land grabbing by inserting unqualified protection to existing land rights in the independence Constitution.

Upon independence, the Government was loaned about Sh8 billion to settle squatters.

Two things happened that led to the injustices against the Kalenjin. First, soon after independence, Kanu swallowed Kadu, which was formed primarily to protect the marginalised and minority tribes.

Second, the Government established a policy of willing-seller willing-buyer. Europeans were free to sell to anybody of their choice. This policy played against the Kalenjin because they had fiercely fought the white settlers.

In his autobiography, former minister Simeon Nyachae, who was also Rift Valley PC and oversaw the settlement programme, notes one Usher Jones negotiated and sold his land in Kipkellion to a company called Nyagacho, owned by the Kisii and Kikuyu, discreetly without telling the Kipsigis, a sub-tribe of the Kalenjin.

Despite his intervention, Mr Jones completed the transaction without involving the locals. The Kalenjin, at that time, did not see the logic in buying land grabbed from them. They still believe the land belongs to them.

At independence, the Government failed to sensitise citizens on the meaning and objective of the settlement. The Kalenjin still believe money meant to settle squatters was used to benefit the immigrants by facilitating them to buy land from the white settlers.

In his book, Mr Nyachae notes soon after independence, at Kondoo Farm, a white man sold land to some Kikuyu. The sale caused tension that nearly escalated into violence between the Kikuyus and Nandi, another sub-group of the Kalenjin. It is worth noting that in the 2007/2008 violence, this area was a battlefield between the Kalenjin and Kikuyu. The Government has built numerous police stations in the region, but they have not helped.

The Kikuyu are also victims of historical land injustices. White settlers pushed them to the Rift Valley after grabbing their land in Central Province. Others went to Rift Valley to serve white settlers. At independence, their ancestral land was given or sold to those who assumed power.

While few people owned huge chunks of land in Central, many sons and daughters of freedom fighters were disenchanted. Although some were given credit support to buy land in Rift Valley through companies and cooperatives, many have genuine claims to their ancestral land.

The solution is offered in the new Constitution. The soon-to-be formed National Land Commission should investigate present and historical land injustices and recommend appropriate redress.

While the Constitution protects existing land rights for all, including persons in Rift Valley, it will provide an opportunity for compensating those who suffered injustices to help them engage in other economic activities such as businesses, scholarships for their children, settlement/resettlement of squatters in places like Embobut, Mau and Kipkurere forests.

This will end the laid claim by the Kalenjin to the alienated land and facilitate peace.

The so-called "KKK alliance" is a mere charade to defer the problems through a cosmetic outfit to shield those bearing greatest responsibility in addressing historical land injustices.

—The writer is a law lecturer at Moi University