Colonial land treaty at the heart of Maasai land trouble

By Kipchumba Kemei

A 1902 treaty between the British Government and Maasai elders has returned to haunt the community more than a century after it was signed.

The Maasai community once again finds itself at loggerheads with the Government following the purchase of 2,400-acre farm in Mau Narok to resettle 915 internally displaced families.

The community says the land belonged to them before some powerful individuals in the late President Jomo Kenyatta’s administration grabbed it. The current Constitution, they argue, supports their claim on the land.

- Family members mourn during the burial of land activist Moses Mpoe.

In the past month, there have been protests in the area with the community leaders claiming the Government did not consult them before it bought the parcel of land from a wheat farmer. The matter has been complicated further following the killing of land rights activists Moses ole Mpoe and Paraaiya Punyua in Nakuru last weekend.

The two, who have been in the forefront in championing the return of land that the community feels belongs to them, was murdered when a gun man opened fire at his vehicle, killing him and another occupant.

The police have described the attack a criminal act. So far five suspects have been arraigned in court in connection with the incident. Local leaders have linked the incident to the resistance by the community to resettle IDPs on the land.

Mpoe’s killing is one of the many land-related incidents the community members have seen.

Incitement charge

The standoff between the State and the community is reminiscent of 1995 when Ndabibi and Oljorai ADC farms, which Maasai claimed belonged to them, was allocated to influential people in President Moi’s regime. Police were forced to shoot at herdsmen who invaded the farms in protest, killing their livestock. Their leaders, who included councillors, were arrested and charged with incitement.

In 2004, the community was at war with the Government after it extended land leases, which were then expiring from 99 to 999 years.

The community members were almost uncorking champagne to celebrate the fact that most of the lands in Narok, Samburu and Laikipia, which it claims were illegally taken away from them, will revert to them. Their hopes were however dashed when the then Lands Minister Amos Kimunya unilaterally extended the leases from 99 to 999 years.

The community termed the move regrettable and it has since been trying to challenge the action, says Charles Sena, a Narok human rights lawyer. The struggle against land injustices in Maasai land began in 1902 when the community elders (Oloibon) led by Olenana signed a treaty with the British colonialists.

The treaty allowed the colonialists to take over the highlands for commercial farming. According to documents, in 1907 the colonial administration took some 30, 000 acres of land in Narok and the neighbouring Mau Narok area.

"The huge chunk of the land was in Narok District," said US-based Prof Meitamei ole Dapash in a recent interview.

Dapash, who is also the director of Maasai Community Partnership Project and an architect of what is commonly referred to as ‘Return Our Land Crusade’, says land injustices in the Maasai land must be addressed.

"The Government must understand that we have landless people among the Maasai. And the land they are resettling IDPs on is the subject of a court case we have filed," argues Dapash.

He says if the Government was keen on helping the families uprooted from their homes during the post-election violence, it should have offered them security to return to the land they left.

Community’s desire

On many occasions, Heritage Minister William ole Ntimama has stated the community’s desire to have all the land taken away from them returned.

"The Maasai will not rest until all the land that was fraudulently taken away is handed back to them. This is what consists of historical injustices," he says.

- Pallbearers carry the casket of the late Mpoe during his burial at his Narok home. [PHOTOS: BONIFACE THUKU/STANDARD]

The minister shares Dapash’s sentiments that the community, too, has squatters who were evicted to pave way for British occupation.

On the contentious 2, 240 acres of land the Government has bought for resettlement of the IDP, Dapash, faults the Attorney General’s office for not properly advising the Government.

"Wako failed as the Government chief legal advisor. He knew there was a legal issue surrounding the ownership of parcels of land in Mau Narok, but he did not advise against buying it," he adds. He argues all the parcels of lands were on lease and the Government must have overlooked certain aspects before buying. The chairman of the Narok County Maasai Elders Talengo Kiptunen says the community should have been consulted before the decision was made. He adds that no amount of intimidation will make the community lose it focus on past historical injustices.

"There is no need of stationing policemen to guard this farm. They will not stay there forever. What was needed before the Government bought the land was dialogue," says Kiptunen.

Kiptunen further argues that in the new Constitution, on the expiry of the lease, the land would be community land under the county. Besides pressuring the three successive governments to help them reclaim it, the community has even tried to buy some of the land from the current owners. In early 1990s, according to the records availed to us, Narok County Council wanted to buy a parcel of land from one Dave Mwangi but the negotiations flopped.

"The council could have bought it but when we had finished negotiations and a cheque written, the deal was cancelled because of political interference," says Davies Tamoo, who was then the council administrator and now the co-ordinator of Narok Human Rights Network.

Tamoo says he was the one who was to deliver the cheque to the owner who was then living in Nyeri.

He blames a certain powerful politician for the failure of the deal, which could have seen the council increase its revenue base through sheep rearing.

Council revenue

"The land could have been used for the purposes, which could have seen the council revenue boosted. Had the deal gone through, the current controversy would not have been there," says former Narok County Council chairman Shadrack Rotiken, who was at the helm of the civic body during negotiations.

"What is now remaining is for members of the community to address the issue through the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). They should come forward and record statements and hopefully the matter would one day be resolved," says Tamoo, who is also the local TJRC statement-taking co-ordinator.

Ntimama, the Narok North MP who has condemned Mpoe’s killing linking it with the land issue, recently told the community not to allow people to grab what was originally their land. However, the Government has maintained that it bought the land on a willing-buyer-willing seller basis.

Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa last week told a news conference in Nakuru the State would continue with the resettlement despite opposition.

"The State has already resettled 1, 500 people on the 2, 240 acres of land that it bought from a farmer, Mr Stephen Rose," says the administrator.

He says it is wrong for people to think that IDPs were from one community and to try to disrupt the resettlement. He says investigations have confirmed the murder of the two activists had nothing to do with the resettlement of IDPs in Narok.

He reveals that the murder has been linked to the Muthera farm, owned by former Cabinet minister Mbiyu Koinange, where the deceased was the manager. Warfa says there was a dispute over the management of the farm after family members differed over who would run it.