Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:48:20 -0800 (PST)


Dear all,

Historically all the land in the Rift Valley was for the greater Kalenjin family with the Maasais occupying a large swathe that stretched from Kitale to the Mara. The Maasai territory reached its largest size in the mid-nineteenth century, and covered almost all of the Great Rift Valley and adjacent lands from Mount Marsabit in the north to Dodoma in the south.[5] At this time the Maasai, as well as the larger group they were part of, raided cattle as far east as the Tanga coast in Tanzania.

Starting with a 1904 treaty, and followed by another in 1911, Maasai lands in Kenya were reduced by 60 percent when the British evicted them to make room for settler ranches, subsequently confining them to present-day Kajiado and Narok districts. More land was taken to create wildlife reserves and national parks: Amboseli, Nairobi National Park, Maasai Mara, Samburu, Nakuru, and Tsavo in Kenya. That is why most names of places in the rift valley including Nairobi, naivasha bear maasai names.

As the colonialists departed after independence and the maasais continued with their nomadic nature Kenyatta and group descended on this land dividing it among themselves while giving their tribesmen loans to buy the same as the rest of Kenyans were busy responding to Uhuru na kazi call.

That is why you will find that the owners of this large tracts of land read like who is who and who has been who in Kenya! For those who were not born, when the late Jaramogi said that it was not yet Uhuru and referred to kenyatta as a land grabber, Moi took offence because he inteneded to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor. The rest is history! Thus in Kenya today the biggest land owners are The Kenyatta family, Moi family, Kibaki family, Biwott family and the top leaders who have led at different times from PSs to PCs and DCs!

Addressing the root cause of this misappropriation of land must form part of the conflict resolution! But as has been said if the grabbers can vacate Rift Valley (it is not only Nakuru and Molo but all the way to Nyandarua and Laikipia including Kajiado) as we know it to be then there will be a way out.

Federalism is the only way out of this quagmire and we must bring it about. Kenya is already fragmented into Western which is working closely with Coast and North eastern verses Central which is working with Eastern. For a start, we could have pro-PNU regional assemblies run by Kibaki and those pro-ODM run by Raila and the pentagon for that is the current division that looks feasible.

Note that ODM not only won parliamentary but also civic majorities in these regions. This can go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bomas draft constitution which was approved by the poeple of Kenya, and in which the country was already zoned into manageable units based on the body politico and states that kenya has within its borders. To be truthful Kenya already has prepared itself for decentraisation of power with the regions clearly divided along what others call ethnic blocks but which I personally categorise as smaller states within the larger Kenyan state!

Look at it from the fact that in Europe almost all tribes have formed their own states but are now joined together in the EU! Thus the German tribe formed Germany; The French formed France, The dutch formed Nederlands, the Italians formed Italy the englsh formed England etc. However this does not prevent the english who want to migrate to say France and settle there from doing so but when they decide to do so they must follow the laws there!!

This is the model we must follow to be able to forge ahead and build one strong nation of many states that are alredy existing in the larger boundary of Kenya. This is different from what we have in Belgium which has three tribes: the french-speaking called Wallonie; the dutch-speaking called Vlamingen and the german-speaking called Duits. They have fought the same war we now have in Kenya for decades since 1830 when the Belgian state was founded under a unitary system of government;

But in 1993 they agreed to go federal to address historical injustices and to enable each group to self-govern. Before then the Wallonie were the politically and economically dominant group and the ruling class winning always all elections depsite their number being about only 40% of the population. Their area was the most developed; they had the most investments and their economy dominated the Belgian economy. Thus in the run up to Belgium accepting federalism, they kept reminding all that they would not manage without the support of the Wallonie.

But as I write to you now since then the Flemish (Vlamingen) economy with a population of about 60% now controls almost 67% of the economy and are threatening to cut off the subsidies they now pay to the "so-called hardworlking wallonie". The thrid group is small with about only 70,000 duit speaking and are normally not significant but their language is recognised officially and they also have their own government. By the way Belgium is a tiny conutry but could do this as a way of releaseing the potential of their people. Why not us!!

ODM must demand the implementation of a federal government and let everyone work towards this. Let every one of Kenya's tribes that feel they need a governement of their own be granted the same. After all , even in our own customs men leave their fathers compound upon marrying to establish their own governments in their own homes!

This should be accompanied with land reforms to re-distribute this resource in support of development. Those who opt to migrate to other states must do so knowing the aspirations of the locals. There is absolutely no justification in allowing the domination of Kenyans by one or two groups of people! Afterall those in power keep reminding us that they are theengine that drives the economy! Then why do they fear being allowed to be on their own so that they can develop a super economy. Let the debate rage on.

        - Sebastian