I begin by acknowledging that I am
not always right but I write this in defense of reason. Kenyans are a bunch of
funny people and I write to my friends. I once told Charles Mark Dienya that I
have a passion for Land issues being one of my strengths while studying
law-Property Law. The fallacy with those who shout historical injustices is
they see the speck in other people’s eyes and not the logs in their eyes. I
know land issues are very dangerous but I must be bold and speak on behalf of
reason. The land injustices have been construed as if they originated from a
particular tribe or region.
However, The trouble begun with
colonialism. From communal land ownership, an oxymoron not Known before in the
name of private ownership of land was introduced by the whites. African lands were alienated and given to the whites. Lord
Delamere was awarded over 100,000 hectares in 1901 becoming one of the major
beneficiaries of our land. To avoid legal jargons, I will only quote the 1915
Crown Lands Ordinance that removed African rights to own Land and placed it on
the crown. Africans were termed as tenants at the will of the crown.
This was confirmed in 1921-3 case
of R v Isaac Muritowa Indagara and another. Chief Justice Barth in his ruling
whether Africans had rights over land, affirmed that the rights belonged to the
Crown following the 1915 Ordinance, Kenya Annexation Order 1921 and Kenya
colony Order of 1921. Before then, whites had displaced Blacks e.g. the Maasai
from Laikipia to dryer parts through the 1904 Laibon Lenana Agreement and
subsequent agreements in 1908-11 which were disputed by the an Ole Njogu in a
case in 1911-R v Ole Njogu. This continued and resulted to the White Highlands
which were operated right up to 1964. When independence came, there was an
agreement between the Kenyan Government-basically KANU- and the British
government that the land of expropriates was to be bought by the Kenyan
government. The pretext was that the Whites had improved the quality of the
land through mechanization and rehabilitation-a fact which as an African I
contest. Britain was very cunning in dealing with the Kenyan government. I was
shocked to learn that we were given a loan by Britain and do you know how things
were done? The money never came to us.
Every British citizen who was leaving Kenya
was being paid on arrival in Britain. We never touched the money. The Whites
did not just fly out and leave the Lands. No! We paid to get our Lands back.
The government had agreed to that and remember Kenyatta was the president
and Jaramogi the Vice President.
Kenyatta held the view that the masses cannot be given the land for free as the
debt-through the loan we had been given-was to be borne by all Kenyans.
Kenyatta had a strong stand; HAKUNA CHA BURE-nothing for Free. The leftists
within KANU led by BildadKaggia had a different ideology. People to be given
lands for free. Later in 1966, with the inception of Kenya People’s Union by
Jaramogi et al, Odinga in the KPU manifesto had it as a priority that the
landless Kenyans were to be given Lands for free. The status quo remained and
some MAU MAU warriors threatened to go back to the forests. After 1969 incident
in Central Nyanza-when Jomo had gone to open ‘Russia’ Hospital-now dubbed
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga General Hospital (where I was born), relations between
jaramogi and Jomo were polarized completely and ethnic balkanization begun
officially. This was after Mboya’s death and burial.
The Mt. Region took Oaths not to
let the flag leave the Mountain and the dissidents were given land to leave the
forests. Settlement schemes came to play in order to settle the squatters. The
exercise continued but as expected, politics came to play and big boys saw a
business opportunity in settlement schemes. The lands earmarked for the
exercise were former white highlands. It is not that people were ferried from
central to Rift Valley as alleged. The truth is land pressure in Central had
started biting way back in colonial times. The hut tax that were imposed by the
whites had to be paid and the only way to raise the money was through working
in white highlands. With the advent of MAU MAU, the lashes on Gikuyu EMbu and
Meru were scorching and many opted for Rift Valley. It was difficult to trust Kikuyus
to work for a white in Central because the Kikuyu were in the forefront of
fighting colonialism as they were affected firsthand. As they left central,
colonial Chiefs took over the lands left behind.
Land belonging to those who were in
the forests and those who went to work in Rift Valley was taken and later
registered In the names of the chiefs following the implementation of the
Swynnerton Plan of 1954 that recommended individualization of Land in order to
improve productivity as opposed to communal ownership. Land was Moi era, Land
was the loyalty currency. Rewarding of politicians was the order of the day and
public lands were lost. Parastatals lost lands. It is only in 1992 that ethnic
clashes over land were witnessed in Rift Valley since independence. This
concerned the Gikuyu not supporting Moi
Presidency in 1992. The issue has escalated to date. The white highlands
in Laikipia-from where the Maasai were displaced became wheat farms for
prominent figures in the country including one from my Kisii community…
Tommorrow we give you the second
and last part of this article. We delve into the Ndungu and the Kenya Land
Alliance Report of Unjust Enrichment! Youl be surprised on who are the major perpetrators
of land injustices in Kenya!Nothing but the truth! Keep your eyes open and your
brain limitless!
Ochengo Onguso is a Graduate of Political Science and Public Administartion and Philosophy from The University of Nairobi. He is also a Law student from the same institution.
He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Intellectus Consultancy
melchym1@gmail.com
Ochengonguso@intellectusconsultancy.com
