Few places in the country can be as polarised as Lamu County.

Hardline political stance among the two dominant communities —Kikuyus and Swahilis also known as foreigners and indigenous populations — continue to split an already fractured relationship further.

At the centre of this are allegations of arrogance, entitlement and disenfranchisement that have been simmering for generations and now seem to be bubbling ever closer to the surface. Historical injustices, land and a recent bloody wave of violence have all contributed to the existing distrust between the Islanders and the mainlanders. A recent curfew driving the wedge further.

The mainlanders, predominantly thought of as the Kikuyu in Mpeketoni town, support  the curfew, drawing harsh criticism from the Island dwellers for “siding” with an ‘unfriendly’ government.

“They know very well the curfew is no guarantee for proper security. Are they assured that if it even goes on for the next year we shall be safe? It is the Government’s duty to give all of us security but not through stifling us,” Lamu East MP Shariff Ali told The Standard on Sunday.

He says Lamu Island is being unfairly targeted and punished for something its residents did not do.

“It is a political manoeuvre to make sure we suffer,” he says.

Politics has played a major role in splitting hairs within the county. Nearly two years after the General Election, some elected leaders are still viewed as outsiders. Some as traitors.

Julius Ndegwa, a first-time MP, represents Lamu West Constituency, under which Lamu Island falls. Although he believes that the curfew should be lifted around the island, he still finds himself shunned by the islanders. “To date, there are people who still maintain that their MP is Rishaad Amaana. To them, I am not their leader,” says Ndegwa.

“And these leaders are taking advantage of the current fragile situation to further their cause.”

Amaana and other politicians who contested and lost various seats in the 2013 elections have been accused of fanning separatist sentiments within the region.

“Far from it. If there is anyone who has promoted this line of thought, it is the President himself,” Amaana says. His biggest bone of contention is the manner in which President Uhuru Kenyatta dealt with the July Mpeketoni killings.

“In front of the whole world he stood up and said the killings were as a result of local politics and not a terror organisation. If this was true, how come we haven’t seen any arrests or prosecutions,” he says.

Favouritism and seclusion

Amaana says such sentiments seem to apportion blame to one side of the residents — the indigenous populations — since they are the ones, from the very onset, who were and still are in opposition to the curfew.

“For us, this Government is simply continuing from where others left. Dehumanising us. Driving us to our knees,” Ali says.

Indigenous populations — Swahili, Bajuni, Arabs — say history has never been on their side. Each administration since independence has seen them stand on the wrong side of the divide. Where there has been favouritism, they have received none. Where there has been brutality, they have received all.

“We bore the brunt of the Shifta War, of seclusion on matters development and education... That is the simple truth and now we are fed up with this. Are we not Kenyans? Are we not humans,” asks Amaana.

From where he sits, Ndegwa sees none of this.

“We have not been favoured in any way. We have gone through all they have gone through. If it is poor education we have received it. There are no roads or hospitals constructed for a particular community. Many people forget that we too were born here and went through the same problems their children went through,” he says. “We, just like they, have worked our way through life.”

For the indigenous populations, a few unresolved issues have contributed to their crying victim. For instance, the lack of title deeds after generations of occupying ancestral land and the availability of the same title deeds for “newcomers”. They say this has contributed to some arrogance among the ‘newcomers’ because with titles comes some level of economic empowerment.

For the newcomers, a sense of entitlement runs through the indigenous populations. And when this entitlement becomes inaccessible, they play victims of alleged ills.

“It is very unfortunate that at this point, we are still being referred to as outsiders. We have been born here. We have gone to school together. What makes us different now yet we share the same history? If this doesn’t make us indigenous people then what will,” asks Peter Kimani Njuguna, the leader of minority in the Lamu County Assembly.

In context, Lamu District is not different from many other post-colonial societies on the continent. There will always be simmering struggles between the oppressive past and aspiration for a future of fulfilment.

Uncertain future

Yet it is this thin line between the painful past for all residents and an uncertain future that politics — divisive and intolerant — seeks to expand.

After the Mpeketoni killings, an executive announcement of compensation was made.

From 1967 through to 1969 during the most intense years of the Shifta War, hundreds of local residents were maimed, displaced, raped and even killed. In 2012, violence between the Pokomo and Orma left thousands displaced and hundreds dead.

“Yet there has been no mention of compensation or even reconciliatory meetings between these two communities. Are we second class citizens? Was there a checklist of some sort that we didn’t complete?” Abdulla Bhocha Guracha, an Orma elder asks The Standard on Sunday.

The majority of those killed and displaced in the 2012 wave of bloodshed were Orma.  From Kilelengwani, Chamwanamuma, Shirikisho and other surrounding villages.

“At times, leadership is all about perception. And right now, we perceive to be left out on all matters relating to the central government. It is not our government.”

Again, perceptions. The perception this time is that Mpeketoni victims were long compensated and are moving on with their lives.

“We have not received a single cent. All we are holding onto are promises past and hope for the future,” Charles Musungu, the chairman of Mavuno-Poromoko IDP camp. “If there are people who have been compensated, it is not us.”

As multiple fault lines continue to develop, the fly in the reconciliation ointment within the county is land; and by extension what it is used for and who the major beneficiaries will be in the long run.

And this unfinished business regarding land remains the most important cause of the citizenry’s distrust of the government.