THE KENYA OF THE SOUTH: AN OPPRESSED LAND WHOSE BEAUTY HAVE REFUSED TO GO AWAY

The article below is written  by

PHILLIP S. WUANTAI

CONVENOR/ASSOCIATION OF MAA ACADEMICS,

and submitted by Enkishui E Maa.

So where do we go from here? No where! This is because we the Maasai have become a drop in an endangered sea. The cost of inaction is now beginning to take a toll on us with the capacity to completely wipe out our entire generation. We have analysed and analysed and will continue to analyse our problems until kingdom come.

It seems like the more things change the more they remain the same. I would like to believe that no one would willingly choose slavery over freedom.
But today I want to address from the subject, The Kenya of the South. This is because it is a time-bomb waiting to explode one day though we are all sitting on. All of us are hoping it will go away one day. We hope it will go away by itself or by some other means and not us.

The fact that we have brought forth children whose future we cannot secure nor guarantee their stability is undeniable reality. They will now become as broken arrows in the hands of a weakened people that cannot be aimed nor relied on to bring anything home.
The Republic have exacerbated this scenario by literally denying the Maa an equal chance to live dignified lives free from political-legal discrimination and preference. To reflect on these I borrow from and paraphrase my great friend and colleague, Ekuru Aukot, PhD.:
I do not approach this as a politician, which am not; neither do I engage with the subject as a lawyer even though I aspire to be one, rather I approach the issues herein as a resident of southern Kenya, and Kajiado district in particular. I feel and experience what it means to live in southern Kenya as a region and in contradistinction to the rest of Kenya (I have, of course, the advantage of living in both ‘Kenyas’).

I have no doubt that this situation described resonates with many marginalized groups and others from the less favored regions of Kenya and arguably even the Maa of Tanzania, and in particular those who are marginalized in the political, economic and social arenas of any political set up. Because we are livestock keepers we live in porous ‘legal borders’ not secured by the Kenyan state laws.

This makes me begin to question the whole aspect of inclusion. In the context of the Maasai of Kenya they would easily find brotherhood, and appreciation and acceptance from across borders & foreign governments and states than they would within the borders of their beloved country.
I put it that this is a country where we have two sets of laws governing different regions. I will demonstrate this with a few examples: the notorious Registered Land Act Cap 300 Laws of Kenya for instance, sets out the requirement of district land boards.

But do you know that 96% of all land sold in The Kenya of the South/Kajiado goes through an illegal outfit called a ‘Special Land Board’; a one man affair constituted & chaired by the D.C or D.O and endorses land transactions at 7pm in the evening? This carcinogenic situation has now spread its wings to the other parts of The Kenya of the South/Narok and Transmara.

I got a shocker of my life when I went on holiday to refresh in the Maasai Mara over last December and learned that land sale is equally rampant there.

This cash cow (Mara) is quickly being handed out to the lowest bidders. With the creation of the East Africa Community the plains along Nairobi-Namanga road are now up for grabs. In all these instances the Maasai can’t see that they are selling gold in exchange for clay.

We have become a generation of spenders selling away our birthright and behaving as if life will stop with us. We are acting as though we are the last port of call and conveniently forgetting that land and the future belongs to the children. Yet our government is laughably holding on to the old bastard gimmick ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ even where there is no equal information and no equal capacity.
On the public jobs arena the people of The Kenya of the South do not benefit from government and public appointments: consider for example; since 2003 to date, what have we to show except feeling dejected, shortchanged and deprived?

I am a witness that most of you have merited your education through hard work but you are discriminated against in public employments.

You are indeed true veterans of creative suffering. This is why I am working around the clock to secure an appointment with the Prime Minister Raila Odinga, so we can table a bitter protest on this shortchange and demand our fair share of public jobs.

It’s still fresh in my mind when the Kibaki government flew an armored chopper in early 2005 over Maai Mahiu-Suswa to brutally stop the people of The Kenya of the South /Maasai from safeguarding their livestock watering points against aggressing neighbors.

Even statistically we are fraudulently robbed by being declared the ‘richest constituencies’ so that when it comes to national resource allocation we receive the most possible minimum. Our grandparents tell us that once upon a time Magadi Soda and Amboseli belonged to them but were violently grabbed courtesy of the central government.

Today the Kajiado Township Airstrip has been quickly allotted to foreigners of Somali origin and therefore you will never get an opportunity to fly from or into Kajiado courtesy of Somalis strongly backed by the current local MP.

Whereas in every part of Kenya physical development plans (PDPs) and landuse practices are adhered to, in The Kenya of the South / Kajiado, Narok and Transmara everything is forced to ‘grow’ including eucalyptus trees in arid areas that has terrible effects on the pasture cover, flower farms that drain poison into our rivers where our livestock and wildlife drink from, ken-chic farms that dot our grazing areas and emit excess heat into our air, and private towns such as Jamii Bora in Kisaju flourish in the middle of grazing plains and migratory corridors.

For where have you ever heard of a ‘private township’ except in Kajiado?

This is why I call ourselves, ‘The Kenya of the South’. We are The Kenya of the South because we are ‘governed’ by a set of illegitimate laws and policies sadly accepted by us. Whereas we were the known Aristocrats of eastern Africa, we have been reduced to modern day paupers and primitives courtesy of prolonged suffering and perpetual marginalisation.

This list is long and endless, yet we are still sleeping on the same beds and the same number of hours without raising a finger and silently passing on as donkeys.
You will agree with me that all along we are not treated equal in this country with people of the Kenya we know. Most people are more equal than us.

This is barbaric, its oppressive, illegitimate, and unacceptable and we must stand to resist. If you want to know that a cat can turn into a lion, then push it to a corner and continue whipping it very hard; it will liberate itself from you even if it means going through your eyes.
I attribute all these to the fact that we are the heirs of a failed leadership regime that have mastered the art of fooling us by taking us around and around essentially leading us to nowhere. It’s indeed reminiscent of Chinua Achebe’s piece in the book, Things Fall Apart: ‘‘Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer; things fall apart, the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity’’. WB Yeats – The Second Coming.
As an initiative of the Association of Maa Academics we want to make extensive educational tours to Narok University, Moi University – Eldoret & Mt. Kenya University so we can embark on an intensive drive to start a university in Kajiado.

Our policy at the Association of Maa Academics is directed not against any politician or doctrine but against ignorance, against hunger, against poverty, against desperation, and against chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the Maa communities of Kenya so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which a free, educated and empowered community and society can emerge and thrive.

But from now on any leadership or group which seek to perpetuate this community’s ignorance and misery in order to profit there from politically or otherwise will encounter the stiffest opposition from us, the Association of Maa Academics.
I definitely know that this will be met with resistance from the retrogressive leadership that will hate to see us move on but THIS IS NOT ABOUT THEM, IT’S ABOUT US AND OUR CHILDREN.

Please join me realize this dream of a Kajiado Maasai Community University/KMCU. Once this is realized we will move on to Narok, Laikipia, Samburu, Kilgoris & Baringo to spearhead initiatives for teachers colleges and Universities. Please join me with your contributions & support.

I know I am treading on very challenging grounds. There is no illusion that this is not true. Yet we have no choice. I have been writing to you extensively and have never made any request; but in this I plead for your support to come out alive and exert your energy on your peoples’ battles. In this you will never pass the world as shadows but will write everlasting footprints for generations that come to follow.

My stubborn hope tells me that the jewel in the crown of this community is in its beauty which have refused to go away. I will forever display little patience for any who tries to extend the suffering of this community. I surrender to Swiss philosopher Henri Amliel’s counsel: “Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be outraged by silence.”
Your action and/or reaction will determine whether we remain The Kenya of the South or the Kenya we know.

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