Kajiado seething with anger over fraudulent land deals

It is not clear if the mapping the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) did on the so called "County Hotspots" included Kajiado but there is enough resentment to classify it as a hot spot. The Maasai feel besieged and overrun by other communities, especially the Kikuyu.

They are are alive to the fact that they welcomed them and other communities over the years and even sold land willingly. But they are angry at the levels of fraudulent land purchase processes by cartels, among government officers, ranging from the Provincial administration, lands and survey departments and their agents who take advantage of them.

They are also unhappy with some of their own kinsmen, especially the ones managing the ranches and conservancies who have also perpetrated fraud on them, often refusing to be transparent in their management of the resources or seeking to benefit from the subdivision of the plots.

During a recent forum at Loitoktok attended by about 40 stakeholders drawn from the entire county, it was clear the people are seething with anger over cases of what they say are arm twisting  and  plain fraud being visited on them by land buying cartels.

"If you want to sell 50 acres, the land registrar and a chain of people involved in processing the purchase will add another 50 acres behind your back in his name, friends or "clients" and before you know it, you have lost a huge chunk of your land!," said one of the participants, bitterly.

They claimed some of the government officer look at Kajiado as "a gold mine" and often resist or quash transfers to other region because of the bounties of this county. The level of economic colonization by non Maasai is just beginning to sink in and with it is emerging political control, sometimes, overtly through the sponsorship of weak Maasai candidates or those who are less likely to openly advocate for Maasai interests.

The forum, organized by Freidrich Ebert Foundation in partnership with the Kenya Correspondents Association explored issues of national cohesion, conflict mitigation, resource mapping and investment for the new county with the focus of diffusing the simmering ethnic tensions.

There is a silent revolution among the Maasai over the land question born out of these bitter experiences and they have began to quietly plan how to counter what they believe is injustice from which their numerous attempts to get help have often hit brick wall due to the power and influence of those involved.

Key issues discussed included mapping and developing strategies to utilize or exploit the resources such as land, wildlife and tourism, livestock, sand, Magadi soda and other minerals, improvement of infrastructure, planning the towns, improvement of education and enhancing citizens participation.

Kajiado residents are opposed to the expansion of Nairobi to cover some parts of thecounty and Nairobi  better be prepared to negotiate this within the context of any development plans that the Nairobi Metropolitan Ministry and other agencies may design.

Quite clearly, the communities that have settled among the Maasai must be alive to the undercurrents and begin to engage and not brandish the constitution as their"shield and defender"in their unmitigated thirst for Massai land and other resources, including the increasing political hegemony that has began to so rankle the Maa community.

Indeed NCIC and other players have a job in their hands to manage the delicate relations between communities here and other multi-ethnic counties in the count down to the implementation of devolution. It would be foolhardy to create counties purely for certain communities but immigrant communities have no choice but to also behave with decorum and manage their relations with the host communities.

Migori County: A Kuria shares his experience at the hands of fellow Kuria people

In our continuing updates on how the Kuria Community has scaled up demands for county seats, new interesting angles are emerging. Interviews with various Kuria leaders reveal that the claims about the community issuing demands on the sharing of county seats is not a shared feeling among members of the community. Many Kuria leaders and ordinary people are keen to develop consensus and the spirit of give and take through dialogue which has been going on since October 2010. But there will always emerge those pushing for hard positions. 

A Kuria peace practitioner had a rude shock when he attended a meeting convened by fellow Kuria people. Discrimination, it appears, will go very deep in the county and for the Kuria, the clan factor will be a headache, both for the community and the entire county. George Chacha shares his experience below:   

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"A meeting was called, for purportedly Kuria leaders. It was expected to focus on devolution, chapter 11 of the new constitution. I marshaled all my resources and training; acquired from the numerous workshops that I had attended before, and the experience and understanding that I had cultivated in the dynamic political sphere both at local and national levels.

I sauntered into the conference hall at the Border Point Hotel trying to keep time.
Finding a handful of participants, I selected my seat and sunk into the comfort of the premises.

I was called outside and asked who invited me, to which I responded that a Kuria lady, Jane Moronge, in Nairobi had asked me to represent her as she could not make it home.

"This is a meeting meant for only the leaders from the BAKIRA CLAN! I am sorry there seems to be some mix-up. Kindly just greet the participants and...sorry just leave",said the usher.

I was tongue-tied!I just couldn't find words to respond; me, a Kuria being discriminated by my fellow Kurias just because I belong to another clan, a Mugumbe and not a Mukira? Oh no!

I went inside, took to the floor, and said; "I am sorry, that I seem to have gate-crushed a meeting not meant for all. I am sorry that I am a black sheep in the midst of white sheep. I wish you well and bye", I said; very hurt and concerned. Concerned that the Kurias have been echoing fears that the Luos will discriminate against them, marginalize them and have no time and space for them. Yet they can do exactly that to those they perceive as being not of their group. What a shame! In that meeting there were people with degrees; some with big appointments. How can someone of such a character stoop too low!

Later it emerged that this was a meeting meant to ensure that this particular clan clinches the top county positions! Talk of devolution, and there is very wrong understanding; that devolution also means devolving clan/ethnic identities to as far as possible.

On whose behalf were they negotiating for the positions?

Now I know how Rose Parker (a black American) felt when she was asked in public bus to give the seat to a white man during those dark moments of the American History.

With my resource of perceived ID, my passion for one united county and rich training acquired with support from the EU through KAS, I walked out, though not having taught/shared anything but having learned so much about 'my people', for free and within such a short time- a record 7 minutes!

What an experience!
CRY OH MY BELOVED KENYA; A HOME FOR SO MANY YET ONLY FOR FEW."

Kurias scale up demands for a 50-50 leadership slots sharing

Some of the leaders from the Kuria Community who have been driving a hard bargain for Migori County leadership positions, and making threats of possible armed struggle to realize their demands, have come out in the open.

The committee, led by one time MP and Assistant Minister Shadrack Manga, and whose patron is area MP Dr. Wilfred Machage, were in the news on Tuesday demanding that the leadership positions in the devolved government be shared on a 50-50 basis with the Luo.

The Standard Newspaper on Tuesday carried a story on page 29, saying indicating that the Kuria community wanted the positions of governor, senator, deputy governor and a post they called "chief secretary" to be shared equally between them and the Luo.

"The constitution calls for equity in leadership and resources," Manga was quoted as saying. The former assistant minister could have been speaking for himself following reports in Kuria that he is interested in being elected senator.

There is serious division among the Kuria leadership with the committee being seen largely as a Machage outfit and composed of some of those who vehemently opposed the constitution. A few of them are moderates. On the opposite side are those who feel they are being sidelined by the MP and his core group in the affairs of the constituency and the community and who supported the constitution.

There is also the Kuria Professionals, who have taken a less combative approach and have been involved in their own consultations on the fate and Kuria's participation in the county.

There have been county consultations since October last year and the Manga Committee pushed the same hardline arguments, even indicating that it would suffice to negotiate among the MPS alone and that they had consulted the Minister for Public Service Dalmas Otieno. It has also been clear they have been seeking to solicit the support of the Abasuba and the Luhyia in Uriri, campaigning on the platform of "consolidating the votes of the communities who have been oppressed by the Luos over the years."

The County Consultative Forums have been led by Migori Civic Local Affairs Network (CLAN), a local organization that has worked on governance, human rights and service delivery monitoring issues since 2001. It needs to be said that the Manga committee made very difficult demands during the consultative forums, even locking out Migori CLAN, were paying for the meeting bills, out of two of the forums meant to develop consensus among them.

Similar but more open meetings were organized for all the other constituencies, namely, Migori, Nyatike, Uriri and Rongo and Constituency Committees established. The Kuria team led by Manga argued they did not want to be treated as a " constituency" and later chose not to attend County level meetings unless the "entire committee" was invited, even where, for logistical and practical considerations, the numbers per constituency had to be limited.

Fortunately despite their attempts, other Kuria leaders chose to be part of the consultations and have participated in building consensus on key issues. The consultative forums have focused more on getting the people to understand devolution, mapping out conflict issues, patterns and strategies for conflict mitigation, resource mapping, monitoring the process of constitution implementation and developing strategies for investment.

The County level meetings were attended by key leaders among them all the District Commissioners, and the Regional Commissioner for South Nyanza Mr. Erustus Ekidor. The MPs who were all invited, skipped the forums, with one excuse or being busy, on foreign trips or some other reason. Machage attended one of the Kuria meetings and it was clear from that point that fro the committee, consultations among stakeholders other than with the MPs was not useful.

All this work is now being put in jeopardy by the hard positions being adopted by the Committee led by Manga, and which has the support of the MP Machage, whose outrageous demand for the extension of the Kuria territory to cover the rest of the County up to Awendo and Rongo in the per-referendum period, brought tension.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission, will if not careful, play into the hands of this group and alienate a bigger section of the County stakeholders. But the stakeholders have so solidified and remain so focused that any attempt to reverse the gains made and undermine the level of consensus reached will not be welcome.

The latest consultative meeting under this framework was done on September 21 bringing together civil society groups to create one solid platform for dialogue. The committee put in place to work nout modalities completed its work on October 3, yesterday and it had the participation from Kuria non of who have taken the strident position now emerging from this group led by Manga.

Cohesion Commission promoting agitation by minority groups

The National Cohension and Integration Commission has just release a report in which it has flagged out "hot spot counties" which it says may be more prone to conflicts as devolution takes root in Kenya with the new constitution. 

The comments that have been attributed to the Commission in the media appear to give a picture of a body listening more to agitators and extremists elements from the minority communities. Take the case of the claim by the Commission that the Kuria were considering the option of waging an armed struggle against, presumably, their more populated Luo neighbours, now together with them in Migori County.

It is understood Dr. Mzalendo Kibunjia and his team have been interacting with the Kuria but they have not brought the different communities in the county together to sample their views. Migori County comprises the Luo, Kuria, Abasuba, Luyhia, Somali, Kisii, Nubians, Kikuyu, Asians and a sprinkling of other ethnic groups. All of these, including the Kuria were together in Nyanza Province, in the former South Nyanza District and later in Migori District before Kuria became became a district in 1993.

Over those years, the Kuria never took up arms to fight for the  their rights or perceived domination by the Luo. what has suddenly changed now when in fact the provisions in the devolution section of the constitution give them greater recognition and guarantee them equity in the distribution of resources?

Stakeholders and the communities in the county are actually ahead of the Cohesion team as they have been consulting since immediately after the referendum and have achieved consensus in many respects. They have mapped out conflicts, both human and other resources and suggested practical ways of mitigating any conflicts that may arise.

Many stakeholders from the communities in Migori are outraged that such comments can come from a commission that seeks to build cohesion, and more so before it has engaged all the communities in the county in dialogue to sample wider views. 

Certainly more views will emerge both in this space and other media to challenge this emerging trend where the commission wants to arrogate unto itself the mandate of amplifying the sentiments of ethnic jingoists, some of whom like in the Kuria case, never supported the constitution but now are seeking to position themselves to benefit from its alluring provisions, not least, the creation of the counties with the additional space for leadership opportunities.