allAfrica.com * Why Decades-Old Conflict is Unlikely to End Soon The Nation (Nairobi) ANALYSIS 5 December 2007 Posted to the web 4 December 2007 By Michael Njuguna Nairobi The conflict in Kuresoi constituency that has since October claimed at least 20 lives, has its origin in land ownership, but the immediate cause is political. The land problem can be traced back to 1941 when the colonial government bought 34,000 acres in Olenguruone and settled 4,000 squatters, who had been displaced from Central Province by the settlers. In the 1991-1992 conflagration, the Kikuyu settlers in Olenguruone, about 100km north west of Nakuru, were uprooted from their farms in Chapakundi, Saosa and Korofa. The National Election Monitoring Unit (Nemu), which compiled a report in April 1993 on the impact of the clashes that had spread to Narok, Uasin Gishu, Bungoma and parts of Kisumu, attributed some of the causes to the colonial rule and the failure by the post-independent governments to resolve the problem. Money economy The report said in part: "The imposition of colonial rule introduced a money economy to the African population, which previously had been primarily engaged in subsistence living. "The establishment of the White highlands required the services of cheap labour to work on the vast plantations and farms. Taxes were imposed aimed at getting Africans to work outside their traditional subsistence lifestyle". As a result, many people from other parts of the country, who had experience in farming, migrated to Rift Valley to be squatters working on settler farms. In the vast Mau forest complex, there is also the question of the Ogiek (previously referred to as the Dorobo). The colonial government attempted to eject the Ogiek from the Mau forest between 1904 and 1918 without much success, and a decision was taken to gazette the forest with members of the community still occupying vast portions. Similar attempts were made to evict the Ogiek community from Tinet and Ndoinet forests in 1941, 1972, 1977 and 1987, again without much success. The Government finally ordered the eviction of all forest squatters in 1988. The colonial government had built schools, dispensaries and other facilities, which were shut down in 1988. Landless people In areas such as Marioshoni in Elburgon, members of the Ogiek community were given preferential consideration and allowed to remain in the forest and their children to continue using the primary school. A further attempt to sort out the Ogiek question was made in the mid '90s when chunks of the Mau forest were excised with a view to allocating members of the Ogiek community five acres each. But the excisions opened the door to hundreds of landless people, especially from Kericho District, who were settled alongside members of the Ogiek, who share the same dialect with the Kipsigis. Although the poor benefited from the five-acre plots, influential people gave themselves huge chunks of the Mau complex land. Some of such people own more than 300 acres. Although some of the beneficiaries, who include politicians and senior people in the current and former governments, are rarely mentioned in the conflicts, there is no doubt that they are behind the stiff resistance to save the Mau Forest (or what is remaining of the complex). This is one of the country's most critical water catchment areas. The Ogiek were unhappy with the settlements, which they claimed worked against their long cherished dream of having an Ogiek reserve to ward off assimilation. The formation of land buying cooperatives and companies soon after independence, gave the squatter families the opportunity to buy small portions of land in farms such as Karirikania, Muteme, Keringet, Matunda, Boron, Sitoito and Githiriga, which are currently engulfed in violence. Ethnic conflicts It is worth noting that no open ethnic conflicts happened between 1963 and 1991 when the Constitution was amended to allow for multipartyism. The land question became evident in the run-up to the 1992 General Election when fighting flared up at Meteitei in Nandi District and quickly spread to Molo South and other parts of the province that has heavy ethnic mix. The poor rural population that lives in grass-thatch mud-walled huts has since become a pawn in the political game of merciless politicians, who come around every election year and incite their followers to evict their neighbours, promising them the ultimate prize - the land left behind by the fleeing families. Today, as was in the '90s, the hidden hand of politicians is unmistakably pulling the strings and setting off the poor villagers against each other. A member of the Nakuru Catholic Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission, who was at Kamwaura on October 18 when about 400 raiders torched houses all night and killed two people, told the Nation that those murdered had been speaking strongly against one of the parliamentary candidates. Some of the raiders could be heard mentioning the names of the villagers whose houses had to be torched. According to the diocesan Justice and Peace officials, at least 20 people had been killed between October 18 and yesterday in farms around Kamwaura. Farms where killings had occurred and many houses burnt included Karirikania, Mwahe, Giticha, Githiriga and Temuyota. At least 100 houses have been burnt. When houses were burnt after the recent party nominations, a senior police officer was quoted as having said that trouble flared up after a vernacular FM radio station announced that a former MP had won. Hostility by supporters The violence has forced most of the families to flee and at least three Catholic churches in the area have been closed. "Our churches at Matunda, Langweda and Mwahe have been closed because all the worshippers have fled the area," said a Catholic church member. He said that thousands of residents, who had fled to Molo, Elburgon and other areas, would not be able to vote as their houses had been torched. A report compiled by Dr Francis Lelo of Egerton University in 1996 on the medical needs of Olengurone in the period after the 1992 clashes said in part: "Tribal tensions are still high. Even among the Kalenjin sub-tribes, there are differences and each sub-tribe resides separately from the other." Dr Lelo said at the time that people were not free to venture into areas far from their homes for fear of being attacked. By Monday, a small group of Kamwaura residents was camping at the Kamwaura church. They included the Kalenjin, Kikuyu and Kisii. The Kamwaura Catholic parish featured in the news in 1992 when elderly priest Bobby Kavanagh, who was in charge, was deported to Ireland. Father Kavanagh had at the time accommodated hundreds of the fleeing families in the church compound. Most of the families left after the priest was deported. The priest has since returned to Kenya. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2007 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------