FREEBIES IN THE AIR!

The year 2009 was such a good year for riff-raffs, scum and the ‘downtrodden’. Manna is falling from heaven. The manual is simple; masquerade as a squatter in Mau or an IDP in the various never ending camps, attract media attention, look miserable on TV, your tribal Mps to make a lot of noise and voila! You are inside the gravy train. The catch is patience and the will to waste a lot of time. This is not hard for a people who have resigned themselves to fate and didn’t have much to do anyway.

Tribalism in Kenya has made commonsense impossible. Most genuine IDPs might have gone back to their farms when peace returned a long time ago. Not many Kenyans would waste time begging for the government ear and aid when you are used to reaping from your own sweat. Impostors made blackmail unions and appointed spokespeople to hoodwink the government to buy land and resettle them elsewhere. The big question is, when your houses were burnt, what happened to the land?

Since the IDPs were Kikuyu, and voters for that matter, Kikuyu leaders made a concerted and unified campaign for their resettlement. And behold! They were resettled. Not a single MP or leader dared questioned this initiative. Opposing a tribal standpoint is treasonable. In any case, the sight was an eyesore didn’t augur well for our international image! The Minister of Finance, whose docket was responsible for financing the resettlement, was Magnanimous enough to sell them his father’s Gicheha farm. What generosity from Uhuru Kenyatta!

When that was done, there came the Mau issue. A noble initiative to reclaim a vital water tower but which meant that the people who had illegally encroached forest land over the years would have to be evicted. The Mau circus was then made to grip the nation. The debate of course degenerated into a tribal contest. The Kalenjin leaders protested that their people are being targeted for persecution by the Prime Minister, Hon Raila Odinga.

When the vacating notice lapsed, the encroachers trooped out, on their volition. Obviously peasant farmers, poverty was evident from their faces, clothes, and the few belongings they clutched on their wiry hands. Even the structures they had called home depicted a life of misery and penury. I would have said the best thing to have happened to these people was to be evicted from that God forsaken land but the vote hungry tribal chiefs see it differently. Climate or no climate, these are our people who have every right to live in the forest. What belies their newfound crusade for the rights of the poor is the hearts and minds they will win for championing the community cause. Viva Ruto!

I happen to come from the original homeland of these ‘forest squatters’. In the early 90s, there was talk of free fertile land in Tinet. (According to us, the land that is now referred to as Mau is generally referred to as Tinet). What started the exploit was that prior to the first multi-party elections of 1992, the Moi government offered to settle all the squatters in the Rift Valley in a place Mauche, land that was hived off from the Mau complex for the purpose. That was done. This kicked off the exodus to Mau.

Historically, there have been several bids by people from the Kipsikiis community to alienate part of the forest for settlement. A bid that was always thwarted by the government. It is part of the folklore that our forefathers had warned the community not to inhabit Tinet (now referred to as Mau) for reasons that has never been explained. The belief is widely held. There is even a folk song to that effect. Even the Mau evictees know it too well. What begs to be explained is why this people insisted on Mau in the first place.

Apart from political reasons, I can give account to some reasons. Since my neighbors are part of the squad, I can pinpoint as to why each and every one of them migrated to Mau.

First, the majority of the Mau forest settlers were basically expansionists. They had and still have arable land in my home area but they wanted more land. Off they went to Mau. When some of them didn’t secure titles, they came back. Some stayed put to date. They are now in the camps. But they have land at their home of origin.

The second lot was simply happy-go-lucky freebooters. They sold off their lands and squandered the money, when it was over; reality dawned and wanted a place to live in. And off they set off to Mau for free land.

Related to the above category are people who sold of heir small pieces of land to buy a bigger one in the forest even though they knew very well that the land had no title deeds. Some wanted to enjoy part of the money.

The last is a very interesting group. Outcasts, thieves, divorcees, and rapists make up this bunch. The moment the police is looking for you to answer for cattle rustling or any crime, there was a no man’s land free from the law and where you could also chance some land. Women who could not put up with their husbands found a safe haven in Mau. These are the people our leaders are fighting the government for compensation.

In the 90s and early 2000s, there were fraudsters and brokers marauding in Bomet and Trans Mara Districts and I believe other Kalenjin districts collecting money and ID cards to secure people land in Mau. I remember my mum dismissing them that no land can be bought for two hundred bob. Many people fell prey and followed them to Mau. Many were to miss voting in 97 and 2002 because their IDs were in Mau. These are the people crying to be resettled.

In short, the people our leaders are shouting and issuing threats about rights, blah blah have a place to call home after all and do not deserve government assistance or resettlement in any way. The supposed squatters know better. Even those big shots who have titles should tell us whom they bought the land from. Government? They were government then. Unless this government wants to kick off another round of freebies, this time round for the rich, nobody should be compensated for theft and plunder. Rich or poor. Leaders should worry about the next generation, not the next election.