Secrets of Kenya's first civil war

By Boniface Ongeri and Adow Jubat

Sitting under a neem tree in a town in Garissa suburbs, Dekow Maalim Stanbul recounts the epic struggle to have North Eastern Province secede. Stanbul was the Secretary General of Northern Province People Progressive Party (NPPPP) and one of the sole survivors behind the pro-secession war.

Stanbul says Kanu was never a nationalist party.

"It carried from where the British Colonial Government had left. The party was a marionette for settlers run by the two major communities — the Luo and the Kikuyu — to safeguard the over 60,000 white settlers who grabbed all potential areas in Kenya," he says.

In 1960, when independence was approaching, it is alleged Somalis and other tribes were left out in the transition from colonial to independent Kenya.

"Somalis have historically been discriminated by the white settlers because of being stubborn and refusing to be assimilated like other African tribes. In 1960s, the NFD communities had a meeting in Garbatula (in Isiolo) and decided not to be part of independent Kenya," said Stanbul.

He said two reasons motivated the wish to be part of Somalia.

"We wanted to avoid being assimilated and to emancipate ourselves from British discrimination that would have manifested itself when the country got independence," he says.

That was when NPPP was registered and became a party and its headquarters were moved from Garbatulla to Wajir, which was thought to be more central compared to other districts.

"Contrary to claims, President Kenyatta was never a nationalist. He continued to overlook the region in development, agriculture and education," he says.

The NFD which covered an area of 102,000 square miles was used as a buffer zone by the British government against invasion by Italians who controlled Somalia.

"We wanted to have our way as minorities without the majority having a say over us," Stanbul says.

"When we started to popularise and publicise our agenda for self determination, it bore fruits in 1962 when the colonial government decided to conduct referendum to decide if we should secede or not," he recalls.

That marked the first referendum ever in Kenya and it was conducted as a public hearing in barazas.

The head of the referendum was Dr GCM Onyieku, a Nigerian who now holds a senior position at the United Nations. His Deputy was a Canadian Major General MP Bogert.

Their mandate was to ascertain and report public opinion in the NFD regarding the wish to breakaway from Kenya.