Disused airstrip that carries the dream of future generations

The dormant Laikipia Airstrip, parallel to the Kinamba-Rumuruti road. [XN Iraki]

Laikipia is a fascinating county. It straddles modern and traditional ways of life; airstrips and manyattas coexist; ranches and small-scale farmers survive side by side. And so does affluence and poverty.

It is a melting pot, multiracial and multi-ethnic. It has been that way for more than 100 years. Settlers were finding their way into this county even before World War I.

After independence, some of the big ranches were sold and sub-divided into small farms that now dot the region from Nyahururu to Kinamba and Rumuruti.

Last month, I paid a cultural visit to Laikipia as a dowry negotiator. The state of the road network left me impressed. One member of my team even suggested he would not mind if Laikipia were allowed to annex his county to the south.

But what caught my attention was something else - a disused airstrip running parallel to the Kinamba-Rumuruti Road. The airstrip is not far from a place called Ndurumo, a mzungu misspelling or mispronunciation of 'ndururumo', a waterfall.

Major Harold Ducket White had a house in Ndurumo next to a small waterfall. 

The airstrip is next to the small-scale farmers who are unlikely to fly any time soon. It may have once been in use, but the fact that it is there is a plus for this county.

The former ranchers or large-scale farmers who owned this land before used to fly and most current ranchers own airstrips. After independence, the airstrips were chopped into shambas.

Maps made in the 1950s show airstrips in Nyandarua, Laikipia, Nakuru and other counties where British or Afrikaans (Boers) had homes. Some are immortalised by schools named Kiandege.

Why were these airstrips not spared? Why were they subdivided into shambas? Did the new land owners believe they or their progeny would never fly? Why did our government allow that?

By sparing the airstrip near Kinamba, Laikipia has spared a dream. Maybe one day the boys and girls who neighbour it will fly home. Flying is a dream most youngsters harbour till they meet simultaneous equations in school. The airstrip might one day validate their dream.

Some might find me condescending, but why would former colonialists do better than us when we are free? Should we not have either maintained their lifestyles or even outdone them?

Subdividing airstrips into shambas instead of keeping them even when no one owns a plane is what low expectations are made of. Should you build a house without a parking because you have no car?

It seems we loved to hate the mzungu's symbols of affluence, yet we all want to be affluent. In the former White Highlands, the biggest and most grandiose houses were  build by mzungus. They are yet to get competitors.

We turned polo fields and golf courses into shambas, yet we all dream of becoming rich and affluent. And who said peasants can’t play these games if they are demystified? What of their progeny? Don't say the small-scale farmers don’t care about niceties like golf courses or airstrips.

The shift to devolution was about making counties the centres of faster economic growth. Would they not need airports or airstrips, golf courses or polo fields? How would the new elites or pseudo-elites use their leisure time or show off their newly acquired status?

The biggest problem is that once these facilities are gone, getting them back is almost impossible. Can you imagine asking small-scale farmers to give up land for a golf course or airstrip? Or replanting an indigenous forest?

Destruction of these symbols of affluence or higher standards of living, from polo fields to airstrips may have inadvertently attenuated our dreams and aspirations. We often try to revive the dreams by taking kids on trips to Nairobi.

At Kisumu International Airport, I always find school kids visiting, watching planes as they land and take off. Could the decimation of sports facilities explain why soccer is an addiction in Kenya? Could that explain why everyone wants to live in Nairobi where there are airports, golf courses, skyscrapers and others signs of affluence?

Paradoxically, devolution has not extinguished the allure of the capital. Distribution of money to the counties is just that, it does not distribute the symbols of affluence or prestige that goes with letting your compatriots know that “I live in Nairobi“ - even if you are a full-time conman.

In the privacy of my thoughts, I keep wondering why we did not improve on what the mzungu left beyond taking their names like Jayden, Ethan, Liam, Carol, Gentrix or Beryl.

How did they create their wealth beyond use of cheap labour? How about economies of scale because of large swathes of land? Not that I admire colonialism, but we could have learnt a lesson or two from mzungus.

Why should mzungus who lorded over us fly planes while we cycle? Why should they play golf or polo while we play soccer on TV?

Some could argue persuasively that the mzungus were already affluent by the time they settled in Kenya - going by their titles and educational backgrounds, with a number having gone to Eton and Oxbridge. Titles ranged from lords to generals.

That is not a good reason to water down the dreams of the next generation; they too can play golf, polo and fly planes. We just need to raise their expectations, sometimes symbolically like preserving airstrips.

I hope next time I visit Kinamba in Laikipia, I will land at the airstrip. I hope the young boys and girls who see that airstrip every day have the same dream.

Good policies, rules and regulations made by the county and national governments, coupled with our individual responsibility, a good education and parenting should help validate the dreams of the next generation - in our lifetime.

- The writer is associate professor at the University of Nairobi