A ferocious kill on the Serengeti… dire warnings about endangered species… These clichés of nature documentaries ignore a key feature of the landscape: villagers just off-camera, who navigate the dangers and costs of living with wildlife on a daily basis. When seen at all, rural Africans are often depicted as the problem — they poach animals and encroach on habitat, they spoil our myth of wild Africa.
Milking the Rhino tells a more nuanced tale of human-wildlife coexistence in post-colonial Africa. The Maasai tribe of Kenya and Namibia’s Himba — two of Earth’s oldest cattle cultures — are in the midst of upheaval. Emerging from a century of “white man conservation,” which turned their lands into game reserves and fueled resentment towards wildlife, Himba and Maasai communities are now vying for a piece of the wildlife-tourism pie.
Community-based conservation, which tries to balance the needs of wildlife and people, has been touted by environmentalists as “win-win.” The reality is more complex. “We never used to benefit from these animals,” a Maasai host of a community eco-lodge explains. “Now we milk them like cattle!” His neighbor disagrees: “A rhino means nothing to me! I can’t kill it for meat like a cow.” And when drought decimates the grass shared by livestock and wildlife, the community’s commitment to conservation is sorely tested.
Charting the collision of ancient ways with Western expectations, Milking the Rhino tells intimate, hopeful and heartbreaking stories of people facing deep cultural change.
Visit the official website: www.milkingtherhino.org
Visit the film’s official website, www.milkingtherhino.org
Around 50 kilometres outside Nanyuki, up on the dry and dusty northern slopes of the Lolldaiga hills in the Great Rift Valley, sits the little village of Il Polei. Anyone who makes the journey there can expect to see all sorts of rare and fantastic things: buffalos and elephants, gerenuks and baboons, and, if they’re very lucky, possibly even a group of 20 or so Maasai warriors practicing their cover-drives on a freshly cut cricket strip.
Cricket came to this corner of Kenya only a few years back, entirely because of the efforts of one South African woman. Her name is Aliya Bauer, and she is the coach of a team called the Maasai Cricket Warriors. Bauer is what the Australians would call a ‘cricket tragic’, a player, a scorer, a coach and a fan. Seven years ago she was posted to Il Polei to work on a research project about baboons. “I was out here in the bush. I didn’t have any chance to see any cricket, because I didn’t have a TV,” Bauer says, chuckling at the memory. “I really missed it. So I thought if there’s no one here to play with, I’ll just have to teach the people here how to play it.”
She got some basic equipment and a few soft balls from back home, and went in to the local school to do an introductory session. The boys took to it, and she agreed to come back and coach them twice a week. The Maasai tribesmen passing the playing field were intrigued by this novel new sport, and would stop to watch. Their curiosity soon turned into a desire to have a go themselves. One of them was Nissan Jonathan Ole Meshami. These days he is the captain of the Cricket Warriors, but back then he was a cowherd, the youngest child of a family of 11, who spent his days “wandering long distances with his cattle in the blazing heat in search of grazing and water. It was through chance and luck that I witnessed some cricket taking place at the school,” Nissan says. “And after watching I wanted to try it out. I was fascinated by the bowling, and silently I was confident that I could master it especially with my powerful arm and spear-throwing ability.”
Nissan grew up herding his family’s goats and sheep. “While out in the bush I developed the skills to protect myself from wild animals,” he says. “I mastered the art of throwing a spear at a very early age and I also became good at throwing stones long distances. If required I chased the animals away by throwing stones at high speed in their direction. This regular practice of throwing stones allowed me to develop a strong and powerful throwing arm.”
He was, in short, a bit of a natural, particularly as a bowler. So Bauer drove off to an expat cricket tournament that was being held 90 minutes drive away, begged some proper kit off the players, and started coaching the Maasai men as well as the children. “With each passing week it got to a few more people coming,” Bauer says. “And we pretty much had enough to make up a whole team. Maasai warriors have a naturally competitive nature, they want to prove themselves better than their friends, so they persevered. Especially with the bowling, which they saw as being a little like spear-throwing.”
In the holidays some of the children in Il Polei who were studying at another school joined in with the training sessions, and soon they too wanted to take it up. Bauer realised she needed a little more help, and made contact with the charity Cricket Without Boundaries. Last November they organised a coaching clinic for 56 locals, and secured enough kit to introduce the game to eight new local schools. In February CWB came back and targeted eight more schools and ran a proper Level One coaching course. Cricket is now being played by 15 primary schools, five secondary schools and three youth groups in the area.
The Masaai Cricket Warriors had also started to play proper matches. They lost their first ever game, to an expat side from Tanzania, by two wickets. “They had the upper hand in the bowling, but their catching let them down,” sighs Bauer. “They dropped six chances.”
“I have worked hard to master the basics and it is my wish to improve even more and to become the best,” Nissan says. “Bowling is my greatest asset and my spear-throwing abilities have ensured that I can deliver a cricket ball with some fast pace on it. I also enjoy batting, but nothing is more frustrating than getting out.” He now has his Level One coaching qualification. “This was the first time in my life that I have ever received a certificate for anything!” Nissan says. “As a qualified coach I am now able to teach children my community how to play this wonderful game.”
Better yet, being the person she is, Bauer has been using the cricket programme to target social problems in the Maasai community, such as the spread of Aids. The Maasai are traditionally polygamous, which has contributed to the syndrome’s growth. “The teachers also taught us how to incorporate HIV/Aids awareness into cricket and coaching,” Nissan says. “I now integrate HIV awareness into cricket. I teach the ABC approach – Abstinence, Be Faithful and Condom Use. Abstaining from sex is like a batsman abstaining from hitting balls in the air so he is not caught. Being faithful to ones partner is like how batsmen must communicate to decide whether to make a run or not. And use of condoms is like how batsmen must protect their wickets.”
More pleasing still for Bauer is how the schoolgirls have responded to the coaching. Maasai girls as young as 11 or 12 can be married off, and even if they are not they are still overburdened by onerous domestic duties at a similar age. “At first the girls were very reluctant, because in Maasai culture girls and women can be very oppressed. So they were very shy and very reserved,” Bauer says. “Just trying to communicate with them was a challenge, because they couldn’t even look at you. Then something remarkable happened, when they saw me coaching the guys every week they plucked up the courage to have a go. They came out of their shells and started expressing themselves through play. You could feel the sense of enjoyment, and that is something that is often denied them because they don’t really have time to be children.” Bauer finds that when the girls are in that more relaxed mindset it is easier to get them to open up and talk about taboo subjects like sex.
The Cricket Warriors themselves are now becoming role models for the community. They have been invited to play in the Last Man Stands Twenty20 Championship in Cape Town, and Bauer is desperately trying to raise the funds for them to go. “Many of the men have never even been to Nairobi,” she says. “And for them to get to play on proper grounds on well kept pitches, that would be a totally different cultural experience, cricket going beyond boundaries.”
As for their skills, well, Bauer admits they still have a little to learn about batting. “They’re so competitive that they all want to hit the ball as far as they can. Sometimes that kind of overrides the fact that we have to focus on technique and so they start going out and having a big slog. If you have only ever seen cricket on videos it can be hard to understand that it is a game of patience. They haven’t grasped that.” Her gentle exasperation will be familiar to amateur coaches everywhere. Some things about the game are always the same wherever you are, whether it’s a village green in Wiltshire, or a mud strip in the middle of the Great Rift Valley.
If you would like to find out more about the Masaai cricket warriors you can read about them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter or visit their website. You can also donate money through the site, if you would like to help the team are still trying to raise funds to travel to Cape Town. And if you are part of a particularly adventurous touring side, you could even arrange to go out on tour and play a game against them in Il Polei. So long as you think you can stand up to Nissan’s spear-throwing honed fast-pace bowling, that is.
Morans-in-training are in trouble. Not too long ago, they ambushed a village trading centre, beat up everyone in sight and stabbed an elder who tried to intervene.
Weeks later, they paid a hormone-induced courtesy call on a girls’ secondary school that sent girls scampering into the bush. They were hunting for wives.
“We shall return,” they warned darkly when the principal, with the aid of a few elders, managed to disperse them.
Now everyone is frothing. One newspaper columnist went so far as to refer to them as ‘morons’— not morans. Maasai leaders, all women, now want moranism scrapped because it’s ‘backward’ and affects ‘education standards’.
But we are getting it all wrong. We cannot expect morans to be defenders of the Maasai community and culture.
Morans cannot wake up today and go fighting the Meru or the Kamba for practice. They will be shot dead by GSU personnel. Equally, that old tale of moving from one place to another with livestock is suicidal because when your wives are out grazing the goats on ‘communal land’ in Syokimau, bulldozers come and flatten your manyatta because it’s on the airport flight path.
The reason you are grazing your goats in Nairobi is because the very same Nairobians have taken over your ancient grazing lands and converted them into real estate in Ongata Rongai, flower farms in Naivasha and wheat and barley plantations in Narok.
Spear a lion Dedicated Hosting Starting at $174.95
Initiation itself is not easy. Ideally, you need to spear a lion or two and kill many birds before senior elders give you the power to read. But any moran who tries spearing a lion will find himself answering tough questions from the Kenya Wildlife Service people.
Not that getting a wife is any easier. With everyone worrying about the girl child, all potential brides have been hustled away from the village to schools — far away from circumcisers — while the morans cool their heels in the bush. Every donor is channeling funds into these ‘special’ schools but nobody is developing special schools to teach morans how to elevate pastoralism to the dot.com age.
No war to fight
It doesn’t help that the Kenya Defence Forces and the police have hijacked the role of defending the community. So we have a situation where highly trained morans, hot blooded men skilled in the art of war, have no war to fight. Is it any surprise that they are inventing war by attacking women and village markets?
But then again, what those young morans are doing is no different from what university students do every now and then when they go on the rampage, looting, beating up people and robbing motorists.
So we all want to ‘save’ young Maasai girls and match with our potbellies to 2030 yet we expect morans to remain as they always have: Lean and handsome, standing arrogantly on picturesque plains with a spear in one hand — the perfect postcard picture for foreign tourists.
27 Nov, 2011 | Author: Saidimu Ole ngais | No Comments »
The tittle should actually read something like this:
Unfair distribution of natural resources, The case of Wildlife Conservation in Laikipia County
Unfair distribution of natural resources in laikipia county is generating a negative attitude towards wildlife conservation especially following the Eland land saga. ……
The Maasai/Samburu and other pastoral communities DO NOT(EQUALLY) benefit from natural resources in their midst.
Anglo Maasai Treaties have violated our rights to lands and natural resources thus minimizing our chances of surviving any kind of change.
Keeping our normal lifestyle is no longer an alternative since we do not own any land neither do we have resources to buy any while our population is expected to rise. The lands were sequestered to British ex servicemen and mobility.
There was no compensation for, neither was there restitution after independence.
Those acts violated the Indigenous Maasai rights to natural resources like grazing spaces for their livestock.
We are requesting the president to recognize our plight particularly regarding the Eland case which is still in court. The President of Kenya should not allow the Maasai/Samburu land in Laikipia to be donated to, sold, or converted to a National park before the court case is settled.
The history of the said land does not begin from the forceful and brutal eviction of the people who occupied it.To better understand the case, we need to gather facts from the country’s 100 years history.
Although the people from Eland land ware kicked out without a proper compensation or re-allocation in place,the community managed to open a case in court asking for the land sale or donation from AWF to the KWS to be stopped til the case in court is settled.
The government of Kenya’s main purpose by constitution is to protect the Kenyan people against internal and external enemies at all times.
All the Maa/Samburu people who occupied the Eland land may not be able to write this open letter or join the ongoing social network discussions to seek a honorable re-dress. Therefore, as a community Para-legal Worker, I have taken the mandatory obligation to initiate a dialogue. Injustice committed against one of us is injustice against all of us.
The Maa people who were made squatters have been among the most significant actors in protecting the wildlife in their neighborhood. These people have not yet seen the financial benefit of wildlife conservancies because the solid foreign income the country generates from tourism is yet to trickle down to the main protectors of this national treasure we’ll inherited. Since independence, it has been the government and the private settler and other native entities who have continued to enjoy the conservation revenues.
Aside with the economical injustice against the Maa indigenous and protectors of the wildlife, the nominal effect of the eviction is that the now made squatters shall have to move themselves to some place.
And where will that “place” be?
My personal guess is as good as your, may be Mukogodo colonial reserve of 1934 will be the new home for the forcefully evicted Samburu people.
As I write this, the systematically marginalized Mukogodo reserve residents are asking the president to give (us) land. This community have a viable land case that should be addressed and especially within the context of our homegrown constitution.
We have a lot of faith for our new constitution that it will have a lasting political solution for this borne of contention.
Unequal allocation of land before and after the colonial era is the bases of all injustices in Kenya. Land is the basis for our survival as a people, an inextricably linkage to self determination.
We believe that it is the root cause of tragic occurrences as the 2007 Post election violence that left more than 1.500 people dead and more than 600.000 people displaced.
Poor management and crime against the people of Kenya with impunity has fostered a culture of the strong feeding on the poor and ignorant. The ignorance of the masses, the negligence of the elected leaders and the systematic suppression of our unitary government is reflected on the plight of many Kenyans and in particular, the even more marginalized indigenous Maa/Samburu ethnic groups.
The Maa people have not been successful in pursuing land legal cases ever since their territorial lands were robbed from them before and after the colonial era.
The Maa/Samburu people find themselves on the loosing side because of notoriously poor leadership and, yes, ignorance of the masses and the silence of the good men and women out there.
Land case is a good example for serving justice but justice is not served in our formal legal systems. You need to be aware of the formal law and wealthy enough to “buy” justice. If you don’t have enough money to “buy” yourself a good lawyer, you’ll most likely loose.
Suppose the Samburu people of Laikipia looses the court case? Where shall all the forcefully evicted people go?
Laikipia is completely patched with animal sanctuaries and parks. The only human accepted areas are townships and Mukogodo colonial reserve.
If you ask anybody, those Samburu who’re now squatters, kept cows therefore they’ll not re-allocate to townships. They’ll most likely end up in Mukogodo reserve.
However,the land on which Mukogodo people occupy is barren. It can not take more people neither can it take any wild or domestic animals. It is dead.
That land can only be used for modern hybrid farming. That is if the government, community or other wealthy entities introduce green houses irrigation schemes and maybe zero grazing as a change of lifestyle among the Laikipia Maasai.
Given a good and just hearing, we might turn a tragic systemic injustice into an orchestrated harmony of peace and tranquility.
But still, Mukogodo has limited chances of supporting our community. It has become over grazed by both goats,sheep, donkeys and cows. The Eland eviction might end up creating resource based violence between the The Maa/Samburu in Laikipia in the very near future. Worse though, the Samburu cows from Eland will not survive the dry weather in Mukogodo.
Maasai domestic animals who’ve adapted to the harsh conditions in arid and semi arid weather still die during long droughts and famines due to various reasons. There is no proper grazing management due to lack of land.
The Maasai in Mukogodo can not follow their old seasonal migratory roots because they’re enclosed in small patch of dead land between huge White settler ranches. Moreover, poor animal marketing leads to the death of many animals who would otherwise be sold before the onset of the dry season.
The non existence of a meet industry in the neighborhood does not help the Mukogodo situation either. The prices are controlled by buyers.
The desperate seller will eventually have to submit to the buyer’s terms.
The pastoralist feels they are smoothly robbed in which ever business they venture into.
What do you do with your cows if you have no one to sell them to?
We produce a lot of raw material but we can not depend on them for a living.
For us, it’s like giving away a heifer for a peace of moccasin shoe for a school child.
I know of many resilient families who’re traumatized by the death of their animals but they keep on repeating the same process. Personally, I know this is near to insanity because we can not continue repeating the same traumatizing process and expect to get different results. Mukogodo people must embrace change or they die off like the big animals who may have been to big to change. That is the height of my personal self criticism.
But how then can we move on when we have limited resources.?
One idea could be:
Masses of unused land must be acquired by the government and be relocated to the needy people.
Then there after: Programs to develop acquired land to be formulated and implemented for the common good.
People must be activated to be more productive. How can we do that in Mukogodo?
Our people are living on handouts and relief food. It is a shame to our government when Maasai culture is as valuable to the tourist department as any other resource. Given the acquired productive land, the Laikipia population shall be re-organized in schemes for irrigation and eco-tourism programs under the watchful eye of our unitary and regional governments.
Animal and human Rights::We belief in the notion that all human beings are created equal. We all have the right to quality living. Animals too, have the right to be protected by us and respected as very reliable allies in our existence. Therefore, the acquisition of land must be done under stewardship of the constitution placing significance on balance sharing of our common natural inheritance.
Regarding the Maasai culture and the need for diversity: Our culture is vital but it is dying out at an alarming rate. It is almost only practiced for tourist entertainment. Maasai people must be given equal opportunities to integrate their culture with that of the modern world. This is in line with the right to multiculturalism and bio-diversity in both Animal and human kingdom. We confirm this to be an essential pillar for our liberties ,respect and equal acknowledgement between human and animal kingdoms.We therefore affirm that we can not conserve one life at the expense of another. The locally available resources are enough for all of us, we managed properly.
Recommendation
The Anglo-maasai treaties that led to the lost of land and natural resources such as The white highlands violates our social-cultural, economic and political rights. The Constitution of Kenya must find a long lasting political solution for such land sharing injustices in laikipia county. It’s very significant that the government refrain itself from perpetrating such injustices by not allowing itself to be manipulated like in the case of Eland farm. The government should denounce the land sale or donation by AWF to KWS or any other related purchase until the court case is settled. The Government should, even after the court case is settled, supervise a long lasting political solution for the land crises in Laikipia and else where. This step is to prevent future occurrences of such tragic violence like the 2007 post election violence.
2. More significantly, the government must with immediate effect compensate, and settle the forcefully evicted Samburu population. Failure to this, will lead to resource based violence wherever the Samburu Eland population will seek refuge.
3. Community owned fair-trade eco-tourism.
The idea of moving people for the sake of animals is perilous to the main idea of conservancy. Conventional knowledge dictates that if the community is involved in wildlife conservation and they get to utilize the generated wealth, the result will be obvious. The moment the population see their lives changing to the better due to the wealth generated by proper management of their wildlife, the more they’ll want to be involved.
A positive attitude will be projected when the community feels that they have full control of ownership, access and utilization of the solid foreign currency generated from the conservancy.
4. So far, the Maasai feels entirely excluded in terms of access, control, ownership or utilization of any conservancy Revenue from tourism and other natural resources from Maasailand. The revenue must be re-invested to improving the lives of Maasai people and those other communities living within the region.
The region must benefit from resources within their jurisdiction. Tricky point: The government should consider to fully ratify and implement the international convention that observe the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities. The UN draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Kenya should not reserve itself on the ILO convention 169(108) regarding the rights of indigenous peoples.
In case of impossibilities to return lost land to Maasai, then restitution and compensation should be mandatory.
5. Similarly, private companies that are operating in Laikipia County must create employment opportunities to locals instead of importing workers When 99.9 percent of the Laikipia youth are jobless.
The game park and privately own huge lands surrounding Mukogodo shall contribute to our well-being.
6. Dormant land must be allocated to landless combating appraisal schemes like community irrigation and green house farming programs.Land acquired through criminal means must be returned to the people of Kenya.Infrastructure development.
7. Roads and social services establishment. Pri-schools, polytechnic, colleges and heath facilities should be considered a priority for a prior maintenance of our people while the local government establishes itself in the new county head quarters.
8. Training, health and veterinary personnel in pastoral areas should also be prioritized . People should feel they run their own-community appraisal issues. The main issue is to attain a natural co-existence between the Human and The Wildlife Kingdoms with both parties gaining from the peaceful nature of the other.
27 Nov, 2011 | Author: Saidimu Ole ngais | No Comments »
With all due respect to the host, i’m getting to experience the inability to have a balanced debate at the K4W’s forum. To my best understanding the K4W is too “nationalistic” in their approach while I consider myself as a patriotic animal lover.
That is where I see the difference between myself as an indigenous animal lover and the artificial conservationists for instance. Their “nationalistic approach blinds them from the greater good for both animals and human life at large.
Nationalists are entirely subjective while patriots are objective in approach. For the wildlife to be truly conserved, you got to be a patriot, and objectively consider the preservation of both human and animal life… My point of entry to solving and preventing the conservation little dirty secrets, has always been JUSTICE for both human and animal life.
Nevertheless, this forum is for K4W and I respect that.
If you’re a patriot, who loves animals and human life, who consider fair conservation of our wild as an inevitable responsibility for all patriots, well, then,(Tu)Funguaeni ye(tu)nu for that matter ama vipi jamani?
This video may well be blocked in certain parts of the world. If it is, i suggest visiting the channel 4 website and seeing if they are still showing it for free on there
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has suffered a setback in its plans to build a new national park in Laikipia on a 17,000-acre land parcel it had bought from former President Moi after a court order barred it from developing the plot.
Dr Noah Wekesa, the Forestry and Wildlife minister on Tuesday told parliament that KWS has ceased all activity on the land which the ministry will not gazette as a national park until the matter is resolved by the court.
This means that KWS will have to wait longer to build the park it is banking on to boost its financial health that has been hit by high operating expenses.
“KWS will accept the court orders and will not gazette the proposed park (Laikipia National Park),” Dr Wekesa said.
KWS had bought the land for Sh400 million with the help of Nature Conservancy, a US-based organisation. But 248 residents of the area, who have locked horns with Mr Moi over the ownership of the land, successfully obtained court orders restraining the wildlife custodian from implementing its plans until the matter is determined .
The residents allege that Mr Moi has been trying to forcibly evict them from the land which they claim to have lived on for over 90 years. Last week, the US-based Centre for International Human Rights Law and Advocacy threw its weight behind the community activists, threatening to sue KWS should it go ahead with its plans.
Laikipia is a tourism circuit popular with high-end visitors keen on luxury offerings such as tented camps and is home to prominent resorts such as Ol Pejeta, Lewa and Loisaba.
It has hosted prominent visitors such as British royals Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton. KWS currently has 33 national parks and reserves spread across the country.
The state-owned corporation that relies heavily on government support this year raised its park entry fees to cope with rising staff costs, park maintenance, animal stocking and migration.
In the latest increase, the fees were raised to $80 (Sh8,000) from a minimum of $60 (Sh6,000) on premium parks. In the special gazette notice, Forestry and Wildlife minister Noah Wekesa also reviewed the fees structure by eliminating low and high season fees and introducing a flat rate charge in a bid to boost revenue.
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Foreign visitors previously paid $75 (Sh7,500) at Amboseli and Lake Nakuru parks during the peak seasons, which run from January to March and July to October.
Dr Wekesa said the review is aimed at boosting KWS coffers to allow it meet its conservation obligations, arguing that the efforts are becoming costly, causing the corporation to run a huge deficit.
The review comes less than a year after KWS increased its fees in January in what led to a 47 per cent rise in its turnover to Sh2.8 billion in the year to June 2010.
Its expenses rose to Sh4.6 billion from Sh3.7 billion –which left it with a deficit of Sh1.54 billion that was plugged by government (Sh860 million), donations (Sh170 million) and donor funding (Sh198 million).
vjuma@ke.nationmedia.com
22 Nov, 2011 | Author: Saidimu Ole ngais | No Comments »
The tittle should actually read something like this:
Unfair distribution of natural resources, The case of Wildlife Conservation in Laikipia County
Unfair distribution of natural resources in laikipia county is generating a negative attitude towards wildlife conservation especially following the Eland land saga. ……
The Maasai/Samburu and other pastoral communities DO NOT(EQUALLY) benefit from natural resources in their midst.
Anglo Maasai Treaties have violated our rights to lands and natural resources thus minimizing our chances of surviving any kind of change.
Keeping our normal lifestyle is no longer an alternative since we do not own any land neither do we have resources to buy any while our population is expected to rise. The lands were sequestered to British ex servicemen and mobility.
There was no compensation for, neither was there restitution after independence.
Those acts violated the Indigenous Maasai rights to natural resources like grazing spaces for their livestock.
We are requesting the president to recognize our plight particularly regarding the Eland case which is still in court. The President of Kenya should not allow the Maasai/Samburu land in Laikipia to be donated to, sold, or converted to a National park before the court case is settled.
The history of the said land does not begin from the forceful and brutal eviction of the people who occupied it.To better understand the case, we need to gather facts from the country’s 100 years history.
Although the people from Eland land ware kicked out without a proper compensation or re-allocation in place,the community managed to open a case in court asking for the land sale or donation from AWF to the KWS to be stopped til the case in court is settled.
The government of Kenya’s main purpose by constitution is to protect the Kenyan people against internal and external enemies at all times.
All the Maa/Samburu people who occupied the Eland land may not be able to write this open letter or join the ongoing social network discussions to seek a honorable re-dress. Therefore, as a community Para-legal Worker, I have taken the mandatory obligation to initiate a dialogue. Injustice committed against one of us is injustice against all of us.
The Maa people who were made squatters have been among the most significant actors in protecting the wildlife in their neighborhood. These people have not yet seen the financial benefit of wildlife conservancies because the solid foreign income the country generates from tourism is yet to trickle down to the main protectors of this national treasure we’ll inherited. Since independence, it has been the government and the private settler and other native entities who have continued to enjoy the conservation revenues.
Aside with the economical injustice against the Maa indigenous and protectors of the wildlife, the nominal effect of the eviction is that the now made squatters shall have to move themselves to some place.
And where will that “place” be?
My personal guess is as good as your, may be Mukogodo colonial reserve of 1934 will be the new home for the forcefully evicted Samburu people.
As I write this, the systematically marginalized Mukogodo reserve residents are asking the president to give (us) land. This community have a viable land case that should be addressed and especially within the context of our homegrown constitution.
We have a lot of faith for our new constitution that it will have a lasting political solution for this borne of contention.
Unequal allocation of land before and after the colonial era is the bases of all injustices in Kenya. Land is the basis for our survival as a people, an inextricably linkage to self determination.
We believe that it is the root cause of tragic occurrences as the 2007 Post election violence that left more than 1.500 people dead and more than 600.000 people displaced.
Poor management and crime against the people of Kenya with impunity has fostered a culture of the strong feeding on the poor and ignorant. The ignorance of the masses, the negligence of the elected leaders and the systematic suppression of our unitary government is reflected on the plight of many Kenyans and in particular, the even more marginalized indigenous Maa/Samburu ethnic groups.
The Maa people have not been successful in pursuing land legal cases ever since their territorial lands were robbed from them before and after the colonial era.
The Maa/Samburu people find themselves on the loosing side because of notoriously poor leadership and, yes, ignorance of the masses and the silence of the good men and women out there.
Land case is a good example for serving justice but justice is not served in our formal legal systems. You need to be aware of the formal law and wealthy enough to “buy” justice. If you don’t have enough money to “buy” yourself a good lawyer, you’ll most likely loose.
Suppose the Samburu people of Laikipia looses the court case? Where shall all the forcefully evicted people go?
Laikipia is completely patched with animal sanctuaries and parks. The only human accepted areas are townships and Mukogodo colonial reserve.
If you ask anybody, those Samburu who’re now squatters, kept cows therefore they’ll not re-allocate to townships. They’ll most likely end up in Mukogodo reserve.
However,the land on which Mukogodo people occupy is barren. It can not take more people neither can it take any wild or domestic animals. It is dead.
That land can only be used for modern hybrid farming. That is if the government, community or other wealthy entities introduce green houses irrigation schemes and maybe zero grazing as a change of lifestyle among the Laikipia Maasai.
Given a good and just hearing, we might turn a tragic systemic injustice into an orchestrated harmony of peace and tranquility.
But still, Mukogodo has limited chances of supporting our community. It has become over grazed by both goats,sheep, donkeys and cows. The Eland eviction might end up creating resource based violence between the The Maa/Samburu in Laikipia in the very near future. Worse though, the Samburu cows from Eland will not survive the dry weather in Mukogodo.
Maasai domestic animals who’ve adapted to the harsh conditions in arid and semi arid weather still die during long droughts and famines due to various reasons. There is no proper grazing management due to lack of land.
The Maasai in Mukogodo can not follow their old seasonal migratory roots because they’re enclosed in small patch of dead land between huge White settler ranches. Moreover, poor animal marketing leads to the death of many animals who would otherwise be sold before the onset of the dry season.
The non existence of a meet industry in the neighborhood does not help the Mukogodo situation either. The prices are controlled by buyers.
The desperate seller will eventually have to submit to the buyer’s terms.
The pastoralist feels they are smoothly robbed in which ever business they venture into.
What do you do with your cows if you have no one to sell them to?
We produce a lot of raw material but we can not depend on them for a living.
For us, it’s like giving away a heifer for a peace of moccasin shoe for a school child.
I know of many resilient families who’re traumatized by the death of their animals but they keep on repeating the same process. Personally, I know this is near to insanity because we can not continue repeating the same traumatizing process and expect to get different results. Mukogodo people must embrace change or they die off like the big animals who may have been to big to change. That is the height of my personal self criticism.
But how then can we move on when we have limited resources.?
One idea could be:
Masses of unused land must be acquired by the government and be relocated to the needy people.
Then there after: Programs to develop acquired land to be formulated and implemented for the common good.
People must be activated to be more productive. How can we do that in Mukogodo?
Our people are living on handouts and relief food. It is a shame to our government when Maasai culture is as valuable to the tourist department as any other resource. Given the acquired productive land, the Laikipia population shall be re-organized in schemes for irrigation and eco-tourism programs under the watchful eye of our unitary and regional governments.
Animal and human Rights::We belief in the notion that all human beings are created equal. We all have the right to quality living. Animals too, have the right to be protected by us and respected as very reliable allies in our existence. Therefore, the acquisition of land must be done under stewardship of the constitution placing significance on balance sharing of our common natural inheritance.
Regarding the Maasai culture and the need for diversity: Our culture is vital but it is dying out at an alarming rate. It is almost only practiced for tourist entertainment. Maasai people must be given equal opportunities to integrate their culture with that of the modern world. This is in line with the right to multiculturalism and bio-diversity in both Animal and human kingdom. We confirm this to be an essential pillar for our liberties ,respect and equal acknowledgement between human and animal kingdoms.We therefore affirm that we can not conserve one life at the expense of another. The locally available resources are enough for all of us, we managed properly.
Recommendation
The Anglo-maasai treaties that led to the lost of land and natural resources such as The white highlands violates our social-cultural, economic and political rights. The Constitution of Kenya must find a long lasting political solution for such land sharing injustices in laikipia county. It’s very significant that the government refrain itself from perpetrating such injustices by not allowing itself to be manipulated like in the case of Eland farm. The government should denounce the land sale or donation by AWF to KWS or any other related purchase until the court case is settled. The Government should, even after the court case is settled, supervise a long lasting political solution for the land crises in Laikipia and else where. This step is to prevent future occurrences of such tragic violence like the 2007 post election violence.
2. More significantly, the government must with immediate effect compensate, and settle the forcefully evicted Samburu population. Failure to this, will lead to resource based violence wherever the Samburu Eland population will seek refuge.
3. Community owned fair-trade eco-tourism.
The idea of moving people for the sake of animals is perilous to the main idea of conservancy. Conventional knowledge dictates that if the community is involved in wildlife conservation and they get to utilize the generated wealth, the result will be obvious. The moment the population see their lives changing to the better due to the wealth generated by proper management of their wildlife, the more they’ll want to be involved.
A positive attitude will be projected when the community feels that they have full control of ownership, access and utilization of the solid foreign currency generated from the conservancy.
4. So far, the Maasai feels entirely excluded in terms of access, control, ownership or utilization of any conservancy Revenue from tourism and other natural resources from Maasailand. The revenue must be re-invested to improving the lives of Maasai people and those other communities living within the region.
The region must benefit from resources within their jurisdiction. Tricky point: The government should consider to fully ratify and implement the international convention that observe the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities. The UN draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Kenya should not reserve itself on the ILO convention 169(108) regarding the rights of indigenous peoples.
In case of impossibilities to return lost land to Maasai, then restitution and compensation should be mandatory.
5. Similarly, private companies that are operating in Laikipia County must create employment opportunities to locals instead of importing workers When 99.9 percent of the Laikipia youth are jobless.
The game park and privately own huge lands surrounding Mukogodo shall contribute to our well-being.
6. Dormant land must be allocated to landless combating appraisal schemes like community irrigation and green house farming programs.Land acquired through criminal means must be returned to the people of Kenya.Infrastructure development.
7. Roads and social services establishment. Pri-schools, polytechnic, colleges and heath facilities should be considered a priority for a prior maintenance of our people while the local government establishes itself in the new county head quarters.
8. Training, health and veterinary personnel in pastoral areas should also be prioritized . People should feel they run their own-community appraisal issues. The main issue is to attain a natural co-existence between the Human and The Wildlife Kingdoms with both parties gaining from the peaceful nature of the other.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 10 – President Mwai Kibaki has affirmed government’s commitment to step up conservation activities in the country to protect the country’s wildlife as a national heritage.
President Kibaki asserted that the government would in collaboration with key stakeholders facilitate the creation of protected areas where the country’s wildlife would roam freely and minimize human wildlife conflict.
The President was speaking at his Harambee House Office when he received a title deed for a 17,100 acre piece of land which has been designated as Laikipia National Park. Get 30% off Yola Silver with coupon code GIVE30! Start creating a professional site for your business today. Ends 11/24
Appreciating that the government recognises the role of conservation and tourism in the country’s economy, he said that priority would be given in the process of opening relevant corridors for wildlife migration.
President Kibaki also underscored the importance to create awareness among wananchi on the need to support various conservation initiatives in the country.
He thanked the two leading international bodies for their role in the conservation efforts and for their kind gesture in donating the national park.
He asserted that the country had adequate land to create protected areas for the wildlife as well as for human settlement and farming.
“The government is convinced and committed to wildlife conservation in the natural habitat,” asserted the President.
The newest national park in the country which hosts hundreds of varied species of wildlife was donated by the African Wildlife Foundation in partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
The Laikipia National Park provides a critical link between neighbouring protected areas allowing elephants, rhinos, big cats and other species to safely navigate a wildlife corridor that spans Central Laikipia.
Laikipia National Park was acquired from private conservationists at a cost of Sh393 million and was targeted for acquisition and be put under government stewardship due to its strategic location in regional wildlife linkage.
The outgoing Chairman African Wildlife Foundation Dennis Keller presented the ownership documents to President Kibaki. He expressed delight and optimism that the handing of the national park to government would herald new levels of wildlife protection in the area.
The AWF Vice-Chairman and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa thanked President Kibaki and the government for according the conservation bodies steadfast support in their endeavours.
Mkapa commended Kenya for being at the forefront of conservation efforts which he affirmed had made the country’s tourism sector world renowned thus becoming a model in Africa.
In attendance were assistant minister Josephat Nanok, Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Amb. Francis Muthaura, Director Kenya Wildlife Service Julius Kipngetich and other senior government officials
10 Nov, 2011 | Author: Saidimu Ole ngais | No Comments »
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AN international human rights group is accusing the Kenya Wildlife Service for continuously trampling on the rights of the Samburu people and scheming to “illegally evict the community from Laikipia East District”.
In a letter seen by the Star and addressed to the KWS managing director Julius Kipngetich, the Center for International Human Rights Law and Advocacy is threatening to “pursue any legal means necessary to hold KWS accountable for its current unlawful actions against the Samburu people”.
The letter is among others copied to the Attorney General Githu Muigai, Forestry and Wildlife minister Noah Wekesa and the Kituo Cha Sheria. The borne of contention is the decision by the wildlife body to purchase 17,000 acres of land in Laikipia to convert into a national park.
On November 1, the Business Daily reported that KWS had purchased 17,000 acres of land from former President Moi which it intends to turn into a nature conservancy called Laikipia National Park. “Since May of 2009, various groups have been trying to forcibly and illegally evict the Samburu people from this land you just purchased,” the letter says in part. It is signed by Travis LaSalle of the Centre
According to the letter, KWS purchase of the land was illegal because the Samburu have acquired rights to this land under the Kenyan Constitution and international law by residing on the land continuously for over 90 years. Besides, the said land is currently the subject of a lawsuit before Justice Joseph Sergon at the High Court in Nyeri reference number L.R. No. 10068.
The suit was filed by the Samburu against the African Wildlife Foundation and the former President to prevent illegal forcible evictions from their land. The Centre says KWS purchase of the land as well as actions taken before the purchase are indirect violation of the court ordered injunction. “KWS represents to the world that it is purchasing the land in the name of conservation, but neglects to disclose that in the process it will illegally remove whole communities of women, children, and elderly Samburu from the land leaving them homeless and without any place to go,” the letter says.
The letter further accuses KWS for failing disclose its true purpose which is to make millions of dollars in revenue from tourist visits to the conservancy. “The Center, the Samburu Community, and the international community are well aware of the true intentions and consequences of KWS’ recent purchase of the land and we will do everything within our means to continue to protect the Samburu people.
LaSalle says in the letter the Center is carefully documenting all actions taken by KWS and will pursue any legal means necessary in alliance to hold KWS accountable for its current unlawful actions. The actions includes filing to hold KWS in contempt of court. The Center has also vowed to report these actions to a variety of international human rights groups and governmental organizations.
