Isiolo leaders visit disputed areas in border row

By Ali Abdi

Isiolo, Kenya: Isiolo Governor Godana Doyo Tuesday led county officials in touring disputed areas along the border with Meru to seek dialogue with residents.

They visited Gambella, Maendeleo, Chumvi, Chumvi Yarre, Kiwanja and Tractor areas among others, and vowed to resist any move by Meru County to administer over the areas.

The leaders met Turkana, Somali and Borana communities living in the areas, who said Meru should stay away until the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the National Land Commission make the final decision.

“We want our neighbours to respect us. Facts prove that these areas are in Isiolo and our neighbours have ulterior motives,” Doyo said.

Hassan Shano, a nominated county assembly member and chairman of an adhoc committee formed to look into the matter, said the areas have been under the administration of Isiolo since the days of colonial rule.

However, Meru’s claim started during former President Mwai Kibaki’s regime.

“Where was Meru for the last 50 years? The pastoralists in these areas have been benefiting from Isiolo in everything, including bursaries from Isiolo North Constituency, relief food and voting rights,” said Shano, who in 2000 sued the defunct Nyambene County Council over the boundary dispute.

Back then, Shano, who was coordinator for Waso Trust Land, picked Doyo as his advocate when the defunct council announced a move to turn 600 square kilometres of the disputed areas into a national game reserve under the name Nyambene.

The case was filed at the High Court in Nairobi but was never concluded, forcing the council to shelve the matter.

A map showing the new Nyambene National Reserve emerged in 2005, the same year the Kibaki administration came up with a Vision 2030 blueprint that planned to create the Isiolo Resort City and an international airport among other projects under the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor.

During its investor conference held in July, the Meru county government discussed how it would benefit from the Lapsset projects and upheld creation of the new game reserve and setting up of tourist lodges in the disputed region.

Isiolo’s Land and Settlement Minister, Suleiman Shunu, said the county government would come up with legislation to protect pastoralists’ land through issuance of joint title deeds to communities.

“It is not just Meru; many more people, in the range of millions, are eyeing Isiolo because of the Lapsset projects,” he said.