Kenya is KENMOIKIB Farm

     The one-week expose on land ownership in Kenya carried in both "The
Standard" and "Sunday Standard" from 1st to 7th October 2004 was as informative as it was shocking. For the modest fee of just over US $ 3 spread over seven issues, the Standard Group revealed information capable of bringing down governments elsewhere in the world, in what is certainly a thought provoking expose. It is amazing that after 43 years of independence we know and control so little of a country that we claim to be ours. Kenya may longer be a British colony, but it is certainly not independent either.

The Kenyatta family is said to own 500,000 acres of land, about the size of
Nyanza province, the Moi family is said to own over 100,000 acres, and the
Kibaki family is said to own over 30,000 acres, essentially making Kenya,
KenMoiKib Farm, KenMoiKib being the acronym for Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki. The family of former minister for lands and settlement, Eliud Mwamunga, is said to own 70,000 acres in Taita Taveta district, with former senior government officials and senior civil servants raking in the remainder of the spoils.
 
It is clear that the so-called freedom movement against British colonial rule,
noble as it ever may have been, was merely a clamour for the ownership and
control of the country's resources. History will not only harshly judge the
forbearers of the Kenyan freedom movement, but the citizenry that unhelpfully
stood by, as the country was denigrated once again by it's new leaders. The
generation of Kenyans born after independence in 1963 has continually been
accused and reprimanded for ineptitude, immaturity, lack of focus and lack of
drive, which is true to a big extent.

However the pre-independence generation also has several questions to answer, one of which is what they were doing or where they were, when the Kenyatta family was growing it's land holdings to 500,000 acres? What is the difference between the Kenyatta family and the much detested former owner of the Taita Taveta district, Col. Ewart Grogan ? Does Col Grogan stand accused of racism and bigotry anymore than the Kenyatta family does?

The contention with colonialism was the disproportionate allocation and ownership of resources in the face of a vast marginalised and impoverished
populace. Kenya therefore is no less a colony today than it was 41 years ago. It also follows that Jomo Kenyatta amongst others, may as well have been the
oppressors and Col. Grogan, Lord Delamare, Lord Jock Broughton, Lord Egerton, Lord Errol et al, the oppressed. Colonialism was and is not about race, but about ownership and control of resources, and the might that goes with it.

The expose by the Standard Group should aid us in our quest to transform this
country. An entire population emerges as pawns in a bigger, complex and more
intricate scheme of affairs, with a stake that does not go beyond the ownership
of a national identity card or passport. We have brought this state of affairs upon ourselves because we have never played a definite role, or showed any real concern in the destiny of this country.

It is hard to see how proposals by the Ministry of Lands to legislate punitive
measures against ownership of fallow land will succeed, given the presence of
several large land owners cum powerbrokers in the present and past regimes. Even if the proposed legislation does succeed however, only part of the problem would have been solved. The other and more difficult part would be for the nation to convert the vast acreages of fallow and semi-arable land to viable use.  Whichever way one looks at it, vast sums of money would have to be committed to the long-term development of infrastructure countrywide, to enable this viability. Are the government and people of this country willing to commit themselves to a 40/45-year long-term venture of this nature? We do not have a choice because the limited resources of this country cannot withstand the tremendous pressure on them much longer, especially with regard to the capital city, Nairobi.

The land ownership expose was also key in dispensing with the long held
misconception that problems in this country start and end with former President
Daniel arap Moi. It is unfair and unjustified for an entire nation to have singled out Moi for blame for so long then and even now. It is this remarkable tolerance and patience that certainly endeared Kenyatta to Moi. It is this remarkable tolerance and patience that kept this country going for several years. For instance, the Standard Group expose stated that the land on which Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University currently stand on, was part of a much larger piece of land that initially belonged to George Criticos, before it changed ownership to the Kenyatta family.  Details of the transaction are however sketchy and unavailable. It is interesting that bitter critics of Moi's era and overenthusiastic aficionados of Kenyatta's era, have never pointed out such
discrepancies. If Moi is to stand trial for misrule, then Kenyatta and his entire government, must also do so posthumously.

The general elections of 27th May 1963 succeeded in bringing in a new regime
that rapidly transferred ownership of former Crown lands to a select few over a
period of 40 years. The general elections of 27th December 2002 were wrongly interpreted as a genuine effort to undo these injustices, but were instead a futile attempt and belief by an overenthusiastic populace, to circumvent this lengthy process by the apparent convenience and apparent ease of the ballot box.



Michael Mundia Kamau