I was going through the Sunday Nation of 27th May 2012 the following day(yesterday) just to catch what I could have missed. I had not read the entire column on William Ruto’s rally in Nakuru so I indulged myself. Many things disgust me about Kenyan politics but few tickle the bug that makes my fingers itch for a key board to punch. Here I am; my good pastor spared a whole month to teach me about honouring my leaders so I will be as civil and sober as I can be.
Ruto is reported to have said he will hold peace rallies
across Rift Valley with his new found ally Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru
Kenyatta. I almost busted out- MADNESS! Then I remembered I am alone in the
room. I put the paper aside and stared at the ceiling. It is only a fool who
does the same thing over and over expecting different results. The two ‘kings’
are definitely naked- tough not exposing what the artist from South Africa
imagined Jacob Zuma exposes. Who will point it out to them?
I don’t have their personal contacts so I will indulge
myself on this medium that makes me a third rate scribe. Central and North Rift
Valley is mainly inhabited by the Kalenjin as a majority and Kikuyu as a
minority. The Kalenjin regard the area as their ancestral land which the Kikuyu
‘grabbed’ part of by the help of the Kenyatta regime ‘Kiambu mafia.’
Let me try to be candid but wise in a way, land is so
emotive in this country. Whatever happened in the seventies happened and the
people moved on. They never thought that by settling people in the Rift Valley
they were creating a problem that will take generations and more resources to
solve.
In my local ‘Baraza’ every weekend where I always spot some
NSIS agents hovering around like vultures, I heard one thing that made stop in
my tracks. The few Kalenjins in the group told us what a circumcised Kalenjin
boy is taught. Now that they are men, the community expects them to guard and
protect three things; land, family
and cattle.
To them Ruto and Sang are facing crimes against humanity
charges at The ICC for their peoples cultural obligations. Land is at the core
of Kalenjins life that not even a political agreement can take that away . They
even warned us not to dare buy land from a Kalenjin in the Rift Valley- they
will claim it back at some point.
Back to my two good ‘kings’- the problem with peace in the
Rift Valley is land, not politics. You don’t solve land issues at a political
rally; you do it in a board room or a court of law. If politics would solve
this, then all should have been well after the 2002 general elections. Moi as a
Kalenjin elder and president tried to hand back the presidency to Uhuru- a
Kikuyu. It did not, so politics will not bring peace in the Rift.
Preaching peace is good and encouraged but it will not bring
lasting peace. According to these Kalenjin members of the ‘baraza’ -not Kalenjin IDPs from Mau Forest still live by
the roadside in Rongai and the Kikuyus displaced from Eldoret are settled nearby
with several police posts to boot. These Kalenjin IDPs are then given land to
settle in Eldoret far from their ‘home.’
I know the ICC case has brought Uhuru and Ruto closer but
let them not lie to themselves that the problem in the Rift Valley will be
solved by mere talk. It is prudent that with the new land policy in place,
measures should be taken to sort out the Rift Valley land mess. Historical
injustices must also be seen to be acknowledged even if they can’t be reversed.
Going into the general election, one issue that is
catastrophic to leave to politics and the people who dispense politics is LAND.
Talk about peace, you have a constitutional right to do so but it is not
enough. After the rallies, sit and sort this out. It is not a walk in the park,
but that is what leadership is all about. Even if you both fail to clinch the
presidency and no matter the outcome at the ICC, if you manage to sort out
this, your legacy in this country is secured if you care about it.
On a flip, the growing number of youth in the rift valley is
a time bomb. As the land is divided further into smaller un-economical portions,
the people hit hard are the young people. These are the ever ready gang for
hire or community’s rapid response team.
Land is not everything. The Asian community own strategic
land, enough to give them maximum economic returns. The rest they lease, get
their investment returns from it and return it to the owner when the lease
expires. These are the same people who run our economy and employ a majority of
Kenyans. This will only sink in if these youth are exposed to the other side of
economics that is not directly related to land.
It is time as country we learned to take the tough road if it means it will solve some of our social problems once and for all. This problem of election year evictions in the Rift Valley is what spilled over and gave birth to mungiki in Central Kenya. If we sweep hard decisions under the carpet, they will come to haunt us soon.
Leadership is desired by many but few know its magnitude.
The problems in the Rift Valley will not be solved at political rallies and
political arrangements that do not take into account the core issues on the
ground. As we go into elections, let us remember to Live and Let Live. We will
not solve all our problems, but we can agree to keep the peace as the matters
are being sorted.
LIVE and LET LIVE
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