Ogiek still yearning for a new dawn

By DANN OKOTH

Kirmugor Kamor Kisure peers into the distance as he ponders the future on the fringes of Mau Forest. He is among those who were evicted from the gazetted national water catchments last year.

He had hoped the operation to rid the forest of settlers would pave the way for a permanent resettlement and a sense of belonging for him and his community.

But his hopes fade by day as he and his family of eight languish by the edge of the forest as they await relocation that never seems to arrive.

On August 27, last year during the promulgation of the Con

Hundreds of Ogiek community members are still waiting for resettlement. [PHOTOS: FILE/STANDARD]

stitution, Kisure and a majority of the Ogiek community hoped for a new dawn.

"The event was celebrated, but for some communities like the Ogiek there was nothing to celebrate," says Kipruto Kimusok, Coordinator Baringo Human Rights Consortium.

"It has been a long struggle for the Ogiek to get land rights, What we demand now is the faster implementation of the Constitution, so that we can enjoy the Bill of Rights," he says. Civil rights groups hope that the wheel of justice will grind much faster for poor and marginalised communities.

Legal redress

Kimusok says the Constitution Implementation Committee (CIC) should move with haste to enact legislation that will protect the poor and vulnerable.

"The Ogiek have no land rights, they cannot acquire title deeds, and other people have invaded their territories and misappropriated their land. We need laws to protect us, consequently we demand immediate operationalisation of the national land policy," he says.

The policy says among other things that there shall be equitable and sustainable access to land by all — an opportunity that has eluded the Ogiek since independence.

Their agitation and that of other marginalised groups is also in part informed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Adopted by the UN Assembly in 1948.

However, experts say the important aspect is not the explicit understanding of the content of the universal declaration of human rights but what these declarations mean when it comes to people’s immediate needs.

"What people want is not knowledge of the contents of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but a movement that is capable of channelling their frustrations into articulate demands that can evoke responses from the political class," says Odindo Opiata, director at Economic and Social Rights Centre.

Jibe at activism

Quoting a Nigerian human rights scholar and advocate Chidi Odinkalu, Opiata says this trend is a manifestation of the growing practice where human rights has ‘ increasingly become the specialised language of a select professional cadre with its own rites of passage and far from being a badge of honour—where human rights activism is increasingly becoming a certificate of privilege’.

Despite the gains made in the human rights front, many Kenyans still feel alienated by lack of commitment to meet their socio and economic rights.

According to Abdi Hajir, the leader of Garissa-Tana Peoples Settlement Network, communities from the northern frontier are still treated like foreigners by law enforcement agencies. "It is ridiculous that North Eastern Province residents travelling to Nairobi, for instance, are frisked like terrorists at the border but this inspection does not happen on the return journey," he says.

The rights of the girl-child, he notes, are trampled upon with impunity in an area dominated by strict religious norms and culture that still regard females as a commodity.

His counterpart from Wajir Hussein Mohammed decries what he terms systematic alienation of the people in education, land rights and livelihoods by the State.

"Despite the lack of educational infrastructure, students do not receive bursary thereby disadvantaging them in national examinations. Only one out in every 100 professionals is from northeastern. What is disturbing is that this discrimination perpetrated by colonialists has been upheld by successive independent governments," he says.

The District Steering Group, headed by the DC, he says, is an obstacle to title deed acquisition.

They were speaking at a recent event organised by Hakijamii, Umande Trust, Concern Worldwide, and Shelter Forum bringing together participants from civil society organisations, community based organisations and youth groups to discuss the implementation of the Constitution.

The gathering also highlighted the gains in achieving human rights and challenges, including unemployment and poverty.

During the meeting, Miriam Mohammed from Mombasa expressed hope that the implementation of the law, especially the Bill of Rights, would empower women.

"Women have a lot to gain from the Constitution. The Bill of Rights gives us opportunity to get out of the shackles of depravity and alienation," she says.

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour observed: "Poverty prevails as the gravest human rights challenge in the world. Combating poverty, deprivation and exclusion is not a matter of charity, and it does not depend on how rich a country is. By tackling poverty as a matter of human rights obligation, the world will have a better chance of abolishing this scourge in our lifetime — poverty eradication is an achievable goal.