Category Archives: Land

The Smallest tribe living in Western Uganda faces extinction

Small Western Uganda tribe faces extinction
IRIN NEWSFUTURE POSTED LAST WEEK
Forwarded By Leo Odera Omolo
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The Basua people, a little known Ugandan tribe of just one hundred people, is facing the threat of extinction, IRIN news reported last week. According to IRIN, the Basua were forcibly removed from their forest home two decades ago. They have also struggled to cope with modern life and have been ravaged by health crises, including HIV.

Uganda has two indigenous forest communities – the Batwa people of the southwest, a larger group originally from Rwanda and Burundi, and the Basua in the west who came from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Already marginalized for their short stature and for being traditional forest dwellers, the Basua have continued to receive less assistance than the Batwa because they are more geographically isolated and have a smaller population, numbering just 100.

Forced resettlement

Western Uganda’s Semliki Forest – the historical home of the Basua – became a National Park in 1993, and as a result, the community has lost its hunter-gatherer existence. They now have to request permission to fish and collect medicinal herbs and firewood, and are forbidden from hunting.

The Basua have been moved around ever since, most recently to a village outside the small trading town of Bundimasoli in 2007, after a local NGO won a grant from the European Union to build a village for them, but the project collapsed under corruption allegations before it was completed.

The community still has no clear rights to the land where it was resettled, and struggles to access basic services such as clean drinking water and healthcare. “…Imagine someone is used to maybe going to the office, working, making phone calls, going to the ATM, withdrawing money… then you dump them in the forest instead,” said Fred Lulinaki, a programme director at the East and Central Africa Association for Indigenous Rights (ECAAIR). “If they survive, it will be just by luck.” he added.

Some Basua men and women find casual jobs such as hauling wood, but most sit around the village with nothing to do. Some have turned to alcohol. Of the 40 children, Lulinaki said only two attend school, either because they are orphaned or their parents cannot afford the cost of pens and school fees. Fifteen of the community’s children are orphans.

Ezekiel Mugisa, local coordinator of the Organisation for the Survival of the Basua (OSIBA), said the first documented case of HIV among them was in 1985, but the virus really established a foothold when the Allied Democratic Forces – a Ugandan rebel group – launched a movement to overthrow the Ugandan government for the DRC in the mid-1990s. The Ugandan troops sent to fight the insurgents set up camp near the Basuas’ home; soldiers and suppliers offered money and goods in exchange for sex with Basua women, or raped them.

Rumours have long circulated in Uganda that sex with Basua women cured back pain and HIV. Stan Frankland, an anthropologist at Scotland’s University of St Andrews, has been working with and advocating for the community since he first visited them as a tourist in 1990. He helped establish OSIBA.

Frankland said the myths stemmed from a belief that as forest dwellers, the Basua “have some spiritual aspect to them. That they’re not fully human… they might transmit this power.” Even with the troops gone and education campaigns debunking supposed AIDS cures, transactional sex remains common. For many women, it is the only viable way of supporting themselves. HIV is a secondary concern to getting enough to eat.

There are no official statistics on HIV prevalence among the Basua. Those who know they are HIV-positive have limited access to, or knowledge of available treatments. Since Save the Children pulled out recently, the nearest source of treatment is a health centre 20km away – few of the Basua can afford the transport costs.

Even when they did have access to ARVs, there was no formal process to teach people why the drugs were important or how to take and store them. Instead, many would trade the drugs for food, according to Mugisa.

“…The [Basua] are dying,” said Basua King Geoffrey Nzito, who had just concluded a burial ceremony. “I want people to join hands so at least they can come to a solution that is good for us.” he said.

Powerlessness

The Basuas’ situation mirrors the problems indigenous groups around the world are facing, says Rebecca Adamson, president and founder of First Peoples Worldwide (FPW), a group that makes small, direct grants to indigenous groups to help carry out livelihood projects that they design and develop.

Adamson said she had seen many indigenous groups kicked off land they had lived on and cultivated for hundreds of years, so that governments and companies could access it for mining, industry or tourism. Once they are displaced, there is little funding to help the groups integrate into life outside the forests.

The funding that exists is often driven by NGOs without the input of the indigenous people, so they “remain at the whims of what western society wants for them instead of what they want for themselves”, she said. Adamson is afraid that “we will be seeing large-scale extinction of certain groups” like the Basua.

Stan Frankland also said the Basua fear that the community would soon die out. “…There are only 100 of them. If you can’t save 100 people, how are you going to make it work on a larger scale?”

Ms Anastacia Ngati, an environmental specialist with GIBB International

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From: Judy Miriga

Folks,

Intent to politically manipulate and motivate Forceful migration of a community is illegal. These poor communities are given little choice to keep their homes and protect their social cultural heritage values or their traditions. As can be seen, there are behind the scene, constant inflicted conflicts amongst the communities to destroy each other during election time, or are offered worthless Shs 100,000 thousand to move out of traditional land with intent to illicitly get rid of small African peasant farmers and “rationalize” agriculture into large monoculture illegitimate and unconstitutional enterprising with Government protection that provide Clearance for unconstitutional amalgamation of land for unscrupulous Corporate special interest cartels through government lobby. This behavior must be highly condemned by all good people. We must jointly fight against such actions to wade off would-be neocolonialists, Apartheid system of racial discrimination and segregation enforced by illegitimate political system and tyrannies hopefuls.

It is stated that Devolution was changed by consensus, which consensus and who authorized it?

I am concerned about the weak position of our marginalized poor population who have been squeezed into forceful migration, into extreme hunger with abject poverty, pain and sufferings. The struggle to Constitutional Democratic Governance with Just Rule of Law seems afar when and if Devolution of Counties, Fair Distribution of Public Finance resources and freedom of choices to improve livelihood and survival is changed and manipulated to suit unscrupulous Corporate special interest, we all need additional strong arm from leaders of the world to help force the change we fought so hard to achieve over the years.

More consumers do not want Genetically modified foods and prefer Naturally and locally grown organic food produce without toxicity substances and is in the center of competition, Kenyans with the rest of Africa are ready to participate in progressive development in shared interest, under safe means where ecological environmental preservation from pollution are observed.

Are we Losing out to unscrupulous Special Interest Corporate Cartels

Have our leaders sold us to the rich, are we illicitly the slaves of the rich? Shall we stand up to face realities…..

The way things are going, we are soon going to find ourselves heavily controlled with no voice by the unscrupulous special interest throughout this transitional time where we expect we overwhelmly voted for the New Constitution to serve public interest. I clearly feel the burden and sense of losing something intangible of cultural heritage value and losing something more valuable as traditional community land for an exchange of cheap offer for Shs. 100,000 an average of a three month salary of a primary school teacher, or through politically motivated Civil conflicts like in the North Eastern. This is a rip-off and a way of THIEVING that must not be allowed to happen and we all must stand up to condemn it wholly.

We have lost so much over the years, and we are not ready to loose anymore. The world must unite with us to overcome. This is not a one Nation war of the unscrupulous, it has engulfed the whole Global region and it is spiraling out of control. We must all unite to nip it in the bud before it turns catastrophic…….Greece is a show-case and Chinese and Indians are the Mission Agents of the unscrupulous Corporate Special Interest we must watch and control…..so we can nurture a level playing field in an environment which is safe under Mutual common interest of all.

Peace, Love and Unity can only be realized where regulations are put in place and are observed by all, to protect peoples interest equally without discrimination or favour……..

FootNote:

[Feudalism: Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century. Serfdom included the labor of serfs (illegally) occupying a plot of land owned by the rich unjustly and are given rights to exploit certain fields of Public Interest ……to maintain their own subsistence of class. Serfdom involved not only work in the Rich people’s fields, but were made slaves, although they had legitimate ownership of land, mines, forests and roads, where the poor paid levy/taxes on behalf of the rich. The manor formed the basic unit of society of the Rich. They have free access to Nations economy and socially. Serfs were laborers who were bound to the land….. they formed the lowest social class of the feudal society. Serfs were also defined as people in whose labor landowners (the Feuds) held property rights.]

It is a truely a Very-Sad-State-of-Affairs……..Wake up people, wake up………..Stand Up and DEMAND for your rights……..Wake Up……!

See attachements which is self explanatory, very sad indeed, it brought tears to my eyes……..

In this instance, who is the Government???…..We demand for an immediate answers ……..As this behavior by the Coalition Government is not acceptable……This is “Intellectual Property Thieving”……..Legal Justice must prevail………

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Devolution law ‘was changed by consensus’
Kenya News.Net
Friday 10th February, 2012 (Source: Daily Nation)
That team also had officials from the Attorney-General’s Office, the Kenya Law Reform Commission, and the line ministries.

Responding to inquiries by the Nation, the CIC chairman said the changes regarding the role of the governor were removed, because the team saw it as superfluous, given that all laws are subject to the Constitution.

Clause 3… …

Changes were made to the draft law on devolution after agreement by all the players in the review process.

Kenya: Devolution Law ‘Was Changed By Consensus’
9 February 2012

Changes were made to the draft law on devolution after agreement by all the players in the review process.

The team spearheading the rollout of Kenya’s 18-month-old Constitution has said that there were adequate consultations to ensure that the final Bill did not in any way subvert the dreams enshrined in Chapter Eleven of the Constitution on Devolution.

Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution chairman Charles Nyachae noted that members of the Taskforce on Devolved Governments were part of the team that revised the draft Bill on county governments.

Superfluous

That team also had officials from the Attorney-General’s Office, the Kenya Law Reform Commission, and the line ministries.

Clause 35 (1) (i) of the original draft, stated: “Subject to the Constitution, the governor shall perform such state functions within the county as the President may determine”. The Bill as currently published in Clause 31 (2) (b) provides: “The Governor shall perform such state functions within the county as the President may determine.”

“The difference in the two Clauses is the omission of the phrase ‘Subject to the Constitution’. It was omitted for the simple reason that all legislation are ultimately subject to the constitution,” said Mr Nyachae.

The CIC chairman also said that the role of village elders had been dropped from the original draft to keep politicians away from citizens’ space.

“This was removed as it was deemed the forums ran the risk of being politicised,” said Mr Nyachae.

Tagged: East Africa, Governance, Kenya, Legal Affairs

How AG’s office is sabotaging devolution

Published on 05/02/2012
By Dominic Odipo

When the Task Force on Devolved Government (TFDG) went around the country last year collecting the views of the public on how effective devolved government should be implemented, there were a number of recommendations which stood out as bearing the stamp and support of almost the entire country.

Among these was the near-universal recommendation that, in order to allow citizens at the lowest or grassroots level to effectively address the issues that confront them every day, there should be established both Village Councils (VCs) and Citizen’s Participation Forums (CPFs) along the models that existed in most Kenyan communities during the pre-colonial period.

Duly recognizing the vital importance of these organs, especially for the minority or marginalized communities, the Task Force recommended that these organs be established by national legislation, not by individual county initiatives.

The rationale for this recommendation was very simple. If you leave this decision to a county which is dominated by one community, this community is likely to ride roughshod over the interests of the smaller communities within the county, effectively driving such small communities to the periphery of the periphery of the county’s development process.

If, for example, you leave it up to Baringo County to determine how governance at the grassroots level will be prosecuted, the majority Tugen community might ignore the wishes of the minority Njemps and Endorois communities, and deny them the right to form and manage their own nationally-recognized and supported village councils.

Accordingly, when the Task Force published its Draft Bill on Devolved Government last year, it duly included both the Village Councils and the Citizens Participation Forums.

Unfortunately, if you peruse the latest version of this Draft Bill, which has now been published as the Devolved County Governments Bill, you will find that the village councils and the citizen’s participation forums have both been removed.

In other words, the Drafters of this new Bill, whoever they might be, have unilaterally not only struck at the core of devolved government but they have also foolishly and cynically overturned one of the most popular recommendations that the Task Force received.

For a number of reasons, this blatant and cynical abuse of bureaucratic power must not be allowed to stand. First, there can be no real devolved government if the actual organs and mechanisms of devolution do not percolate to the grassroots level which, in this case, is the village.

Or, to put this in reverse, if the ordinary Kenyan citizen does not see the trappings and institutions of devolved government manifested at the village level, he or she will assume that no devolution has occurred.

Second, if the overwhelming majority of the people who presented their views to the Task Force said that they wanted to see these village councils and citizen’s participation forums established, who are these people who have Drafted the latest Bill on devolved government to exclude these organs?

Are there some hapless legal apparatchiks in the Attorney General’s Office who really do not know what they are doing or is this part of a much larger and sinister plot to defeat real devolved government?

There is also a particular security component to this matter which needs to be mentioned here. Every village in this country knows its thieves, robbers, murderers, or witches.

If you leave village government to the village itself, within very little time, these negative elements within the village will be identified and the necessary action taken to deal with the situation. If you leave village governance to a larger and more distant organ, the motivation of the villagers to confront such matters directly will be necessarily constrained.

If you let the villages run their own affairs, as the Task Force had proposed, and they refuse to identify the thieves, robbers, murderers and witches amidst them, then, in good conscience, you can let them stew in their own soup for a while before taking much more drastic, remedial action.

Fifty years after our independence, the Njemps are still fighting the Endorois in Baringo County; the Gabra and the Borana are still slaughtering each other in Moyale County and the Pokots are still causing havoc along their borders with the Samburu and Turkana communities. If we needed any proof that our governance systems at the grassroots level have failed, these killings are surely it.

This means that we need to overhaul almost all those governance structures which have existed at the community level since independence. We need to take real government to the grassroots through these village councils and citizen’s participation forums.

In its latest memorandum to Parliament, Sayari, the Nairobi-based think tank, in conjunction with CEMIRIDE, the Centre for Minority Rights Development stated:

“This Bill is subjecting voiceless grassroots communities to the vagaries of political dealings and power play at the county level. This is likely to harm politically marginalized and minority communities the most.” Indeed! ENDS.

The writer is a lecturer and consultant in Nairobi.

dominicodipo@yahoo.co.uk

Clashes over water, pasture displaces 40 000 in Kenya
NAIROBI, KENYA – Feb 10 2012 19:34

More than 40 000 people have fled recent clashes between two north Kenyan tribes over access to water and pasture, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Friday.

“Over 40 000 people have fled their homes in Moyale, northern Kenya,” said Alexander Matheou, the federation’s head for East Africa.

The UN had earlier said “tens of thousands” displaced by the fighting had fled into neighbouring Ethiopia, where the majority are living with host families.

Clashes between rival cattle herding pastoralists in the region are common, with herders often carrying guns to protect their animals, but the recent fighting has been unusually heavy.

The clashes pit two traditional rivals, the Borana and the Gabra, around the town of Moyale on the Ethiopian border.

“We have never seen before what we are seing this time, entire villages, entire schools destroyed, water points sabotaged,” Matheou said.

“Shops in Moyale are closed, houses, schools are empty, there is a very eerie sense like a ghost town,” he added.

“Conflict between the Borana and Gabra clans in north Kenya has displaced tens of thousands of people,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report on Tuesday.

Food for 15 000 people has been sent to the area, along with plastic sheets and household items for some 3 000 people, it added.

Fighting over land grazing rights in the remote Moyale region killed at least 18 people last month after two days of intense violence between men armed with automatic rifles and machetes.

The region was hard hit by severe drought in the Horn of Africa last year, exacerbating tensions over land in the area, and sparking tit-for-tat cattle raids.
KENYA: Clashes highlight dangers of devolution

ISIOLO, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) – Politically motivated violence in the northern Kenyan town of Moyale, which has left dozens dead and tens of thousands displaced in recent weeks, shows little sign of abating and there are fears that the clashes could continue until elections are held for new local government positions.

The main two pastoralist communities involved, the Borana and the Gabra, have a long history of sometimes violent competition over resources. But by many accounts, an unintended consequence of Kenya’s new devolutionary constitution has raised the stakes considerably.

The prospect of real political and budgetary power – concentrated since independence in distant Nairobi – rather than water, pasture and cattle-raid vendettas, now drives the violence.

“Every conflict in 2012 will have political and ethnic implications and can therefore not be treated as normal criminal activity,” Mzalendo Kibunjia, chairman of the National Cohesion and Commission (NCIC), said in a recent statement [https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=172600292840170&id=133856426714557].

The NCIC is a government entity set up in 2008 to eliminate ethnic discrimination and promote inter-communal reconciliation.

“The conflicts in northern Kenya must be treated as electoral related and not be dismissed as conflict over water, pasture and cattle rustling.

The NCIC has established that the ongoing violent conflicts [in Moyale and Isiolo http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94312 ] are politically motivated in anticipation of the 2012 elections,” Kibunjia said.

However, presidential, legislative and local elections might not be held until early 2013 according to a recent High Court ruling.

The Kenya Red Cross added: [ http://www.kenyaredcross.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=251&Itemid=124 ]

“The trigger of the current conflict is allegedly competition over positions in the county government structures as designated in the new Kenyan constitution and land-related issues.”

Incitement

The spate of sporadic clashes is thought to have been sparked by a single killing in early November just across the border with Ethiopia.

Since then, political leaders from each community have allegedly incited violence against the other, regardless of whether those members are combatants.

“Different communities used to share mixed schools, mixed waterholes, mixed shopping centres, mixed everything. Now they can’t be on the same street together,” said one aid worker, who recently visited the town.

Several political leaders, including a former member of parliament, have been arrested on suspicion of fuelling the increasingly generalized conflict.

“Here, a politician can kill his opponents, it happens every [election] year, but not a single politician or trader known to have planned and killed people has ever been convicted,” Aba Dika, an elder in Moyale, told IRIN.

However, Eastern Province Police Commander Marcus Ochola told IRIN such impunity was on the way out.

“I am confident our officers, who are still collecting additional evidence, will support strong cases against those responsible for these skirmishes,” he said.

Another police official said detectives were investigating reports that some suspects had used social media to incite violence and congratulate kinsmen when prominent members of rival communities had been killed.

Aid workers who visited Moyale said hundreds of houses had been burnt and that crops, livestock and property had been destroyed.

There have also been reports of shortages and increasing food prices due to the interruption of transport and the closure or destruction of shops.

Thousands of people – insecurity has prevented an accurate assessment – have been displaced from their homes, with many fleeing into southern Ethiopia.

The Red Cross estimates that 9,500 families – some 57,000 people – have fled, 60 people have been killed and more than 1,000 houses burnt.

The worst-affected areas include the settlements of Heilu, Kinisa, Buthye, Bori, Mansile, Illadu, Manyatta and Odda.

Traumatized

“The extent of displacement now and the indiscriminate targeting of the violence – women, children and older persons, any member of the [rival] community has been killed – have left people really traumatized,” said one humanitarian official, who asked not to be named.

“The fear is that between now and elections [we] will see displacement and returns, displacement and returns, with nothing really in balance. There won’t be much room for manoeuvre until some sort of political solution is agreed upon.

That seems very far away right now, from what we have seen,” he added. “It’s not easy to arrange peace meetings when the parties are so mistrustful and fearful of the other’s intentions. Willingness and commitment are not there at the moment, it seems. Willingness to cease hostilities has been very low. It’s quite tragic,” said the aid worker.

Education blow Education has been badly affected in Moyale, with 18 of the area’s 31 schools yet to reopen after the Christmas break and many school-age children among the displaced, either in Ethiopia or in makeshift camps.

Livestock trader Abduba Wario said his income had dried up because the town’s livestock market was closed and he had been unable to send his two daughters to school in the central Kenyan town of Meru.

“It’s risky, no trucks are available. I appeal to the government and NGOs to provide all school-children with transport and police escorts for learning in other parts of the country,” he said.

The state of education facilities serves as an important indicator of the wider security climate, according to the aid worker.

“Children returning to school is the first step in terms of reconciliation, a return to normality. If it is safe for children to go to school it is also safe for health workers and others to return to their posts,” he said.

Amid reports that leaders of warring communities have mobilized across the porous border, Kenyan security forces are working with those from Ethiopia. “We are liaising with our counterparts in Ethiopia to trace the fighters who fled when Kenyan security officers were deployed to quell the fight,” said a security official, who asked not to be named.

na-aw-am/mw[END]

This report online: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=94789

Kenya: Joluo, Lady Ado, Through Me Reaches You For Advice.

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From: Joram Ragem

Dear Jaluo dot com,

I liked the old jaluo dot com forum which we frequently used to help one another on matters about our culture and our problems.

I am writing this open letter as a cry for help, hoping someone, maybe the esteemed Luo Council of Elders, or any good Samaritan ma ja thurwa will help me.

Here we go.

And I am Joram Ragem, you are not.

Yes, Joram Kaulikazi Ragem, wuod Ndinya, wuod Onam, wuod Amolo, wuod Owuoth, wuod Oganyo, wuod Mumbe, wuod Odongo, wuod Olwande, wuod Adhaya, wuod Ojuodhi, wuod Ragem (You may be my relative, but it matters less now. This is New Kenya!)

– – – – – – – – – – –

My dad died exactly 9 years ago. Before then we had been staying in Nairobi as a family of kids including our parents.

My father however, had another wife with whom they have not been in contact with since 1986 due to irreconcilable differences. I know this because my father wrote some autobiography of sorts and I have the original copy. Numerous attempts were made later to reconcile her and her children back into the family but she bluntly rejected the offer even going ahead to marry another man.

The ancestral land that had been allocated to my father has lain uncultivated for almost three decades. Recently my mother began to cultivate it and suddenly every one’s interest is aroused. The eldest uncle in our family has attempted to beat her up, One of my fathers brother’s has thrown a panga at her on various occasions and in the most recent incident my mother decided to approach her late husband’s eldest brother to report the matter. She was chased away and told she has no property in the family and they would bring back the alienated wife and take everything that she has.

It seems we have been sitting on a time bomb and now it is almost exploding. Word is going round that they intend to chase us out of our rural home and take everything. I have tried to do my research and even logic says the family has no capacity to dispense justice without outside intervention.

The other family has expressed their intentions of not ever coming back and my uncle wants this land for himself and has said it in those blunt terms. My family is ready to fore go that land but all we want is to protect ourselves from looming eviction.

P:s My mother refused to be inherited and the other family never attended dad’s funeral. The local council of elders is defunct and if any is to be called my uncle would most probably be a member of it and this would greatly hamper justice. The local chief cowards at him and is therefore, not in a position to tell him the truth if it is against his opinion. Both my grandparents are also long deceased.

I do not know what to do my people, but to ask you for guidance. Feel free to post your opinion here and you can reach me through Ajori at joragem@gmail.com

I remain,
Very Truly Yours
Lady Ado

KENYA: AVOID THINGS THAT CAN MAKE US HATE EACH OTHER-LENTEN CAMPAIGN 2012

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From: ouko joachim omolo
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012

The theme of this year’s Lenten Campaign is “Towards a Transformed Kenya”, Let Light Shine out of Darkness (2Cor.4:6). The Kenya Episcopal Conference Catholic Secretariat Catholic Justice and Peace Commission has chosen this theme because as Kenyans we must remind ourselves that we have a duty to transform Kenya into a country where human dignity, human rights, equity, responsibility and equality are the core values. This is the basis of the social teaching of the Church.

The campaign begins with the preamble that in order to transform Kenya we must to transform our conscience. This will enable Kenyans to avoid those things that have made us hate each other. We must coexist as a country. As Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Traditional religious and people of good will, we are all called to be the salt and light of the world.

We are all invited to be witness of the Kingdom of God which is already here with us and the Church is symbol of that Kingdom. Transformation means that we reclaim our humanity from false doctrine and ideologies that have infested our society. Our Lord told us that only truth will set us free (Jn. 8:32).

The first week begins on Sunday February 26 after Ash Wednesday, February 22. The first week shall discuss the General Elections, how we are expected to elect good leaders and how we shall avoid rigging and violence like 2007 and several previous elections which were mired in irregularities and characterized by violence in many parts of Kenya.

The fact that at the heart of the electoral violence in 2007 and 2008 was the question of land allocation and the particular nature of Kenyan political contests, through which ethnic loyalties are rewarded, in order to avoid future electoral violence, the issue of land must be tackled.

For Muslims the most contentious issue is the question of ancestral land in Coastal Province, which many Muslim leaders claims was reallocated illegally. This has motivated some Islamic organizations to use the debate about “majimboism” as a platform to advocate the implementation of Shari’ah law which they believe is the only solution to their problems.

Despite that fact that land rights have been a hotly contested issue since independence where the Kalenjin, Masai and other smaller communities have consistently tried to reclaim land that was taken from them during the colonial period, instead illegal farm invasions continue to take place.

Questions of land allocation, which are ultimately linked to questions of wealth, have never been handled appropriately. The political instrumentalization of the uneven distribution of land has led to widespread ethnic violence, which has flared up several times after the return to multiparty democracy in late 1991.

Both during the period of first de facto and later de jure one-party rule (1963 to 1991) under the reign of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), the former ruling party, and during the period of multiparty competition (1992 to present), politics has been characterized by strong ethnic undercurrents.

Under the country’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta (1963 – 1978), most prominent cabinet positions were given to his Kikuyu community, which, according to the 1989 census, represent 21 percent of the population and the largest ethnic group.

Yet still, despite the fact that in the fertile Rift Valley, both Kikuyu and Kalenjin have aspired to claim land that was previously under colonial occupation, competing demands for land were never solved and thus became a latent source of conflict between the two communities.

It is against the background that in 1964 when the Kenyatta government altered the independence constitution by abolishing the federal institutional system (“majimbo constitution”), the debate about “majimboism” (Swahili for federalism) has since returned to the political agenda and was frequently accompanied by ethnic clashes. It also emerged in the run-up to the 2007 elections.

In the second week the campaign will look at the issue of food security. As Kenyans we have an obligation to make sure that we have enough food, especially by seeking to strengthen our economy by buying our own produce. In other words, for us as a country to have food security, we must be patriotic and put Kenya first.

We must also compel our leaders to have policies that spell out the availability of seeds, accurate weather forecast and good food storage. The problem of food insecurity needs to be addressed within a long term perspective, eliminating the structural causes that give rise to it and promoting the agricultural development of poorer people.

This is because according to the constitution of Kenya, the government of Kenya has constitutional responsibility to protect the human dignity of Kenyans (Art. 26(1) and Art.28); and free them from hunger and to have adequate food of acceptable quality (Art. 43(1) c.

The third week will discuss the Devolution. This is according to the Kenya Episcopal Conference is because it is a very important for the transformation of Kenya. It means allowing or giving powers of decision making to smaller or local units that have means to implement the decisions both at political, economic, social and cultural spheres.

Technically, devolution can be defined as a governance tool based on the principle of subsidiarity. This means that the central government and the devolved government will have distinct functions to perform that will add up to the common good of Kenyans.

Even though under Daniel arap Moi (1978 – 2002), the allocation of public resources was biased in favor of his Kalenjin group and several pastoral communities, this has never changed with Mwai Kibaki.

It explains why economic recovery has failed to realize their goals in Kenya since independence. This has opened the way for corruption to continue to be widespread. It is also why the resettlement of thousands of innocent victims has not yet been realized. This cannot improve because of the ongoing bad governance.

With the implementation of the new constitutions Kenyans hope that these vices will end once and for all. We need Kenya where the constitution recognizes the cultural values and ethnic diversities in the pot which is Kenya and not ethnic.

The Kenya Episcopal Conference believes that with the implementation of the new constitution Kenyans will be able to share the national resources at both national and at county levels. Where there will also be county resources to be shared within the counties.

This of course will depend with the type of leaders Kenyans will elect. Leaders, who are ready to dialogue with the community, bring investments in the county and who are ready to adopt pro-good policies. All these processes require citizens’ participation as provided in the constitution.

Because the constitution has never been implemented is why, even though the fight against corruption was a major theme in Kibaki’s successful 2002 election campaign, this could not work.

That is also why, despite the fact that in 2003 and 2004 when the government enacted several laws designed to curb corruption, including the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, the Public Officer Ethics Act and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act, corruption is still widespread.

Even with the re-launch of Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Agency (KACC) which required MPs and civil servants to provide evidence of their source of income has never been realized. In addition, the position of a permanent Secretary for Ethics which was established in the president’s office never worked either.

The outcry has been that, even though the KACC is legally obliged to hand over evidence to the attorney general’s office, their efforts have been limiting them to free itself from executive pressure. This is because AGs have been the presidential appointees.

That is why it admitted to suffering from a lack of capacity to act in a meaningful way to punish those who fail to comply with the law. For example, in January 2009, former Finance Minister Amos Kimunya, who was involved in the dubious privatization of the Grand Regency Hotel, was re-appointed to his previous positions despite a parliamentary vote of no confidence against him.

The fourth week will discuss the family matters. The Kenya Episcopal Conference has chosen this topic given that the family is a threatened institution today. Without sound families the society will disintegrate.

In Kenya today the family is facing significant challenges and the role of parent is in jeopardy as parents continue to compete with various influences from our world. What is happening is that we have defiled our families.

We have allowed the father of the home to disappear. Many children are suffering a ‘father wound’. Many children do not have an adequate father figure in their lives, and this has really distorted the society.

The fifth and last week will discuss peace and cohesion. Kenyans are called to look for means of bringing justice and peace to our society. This can only be achieved when we have let our light to shine.

While many Kenyans continue to suffer violence in their communities, press freedom still exists in Kenya on paper as well as in principle. In the past, journalists have become the victims of governmental pressure and state violence.

During the counting of the 2007 election results, various media houses were forced to stop reporting incoming election results, which made it impossible to confirm official results released by the Electoral Commission of Kenya.

Recently local and international journalists have protested Kibaki’s support of the Kenya Communications Amendment Bill (2008). The so-called “ICT Bill” which, if it was passed it was going to provide for heavy fines and prison sentences for press offenses.

It could give the government authority over broadcast license issuance and the production and content of news programs. It further allowed the government to raid media offices- tap phones and control broadcast content for purposes of national security.

Although sizeable group of Kibaki’s grand coalition also opposes the law, according to the worldwide press freedom index, Kenya’s position has fallen from position 78 in 2007 to position 97 in 2008 (out of 167 countries).

Yet still, the 2007 elections and their aftermath have illustrated the deep ethnic divisions between various communities. No political party has ever managed to include representatives of all major communities in leading positions for a significant period of time.

The inability of political leaders to engage in efforts to defuse the violence was manifest in their readiness to accuse each other of fostering ethnic genocide. This has raised new doubts about their willingness to contribute to democratic stability.

Thanks to International Criminal Court (ICC) that Kenyans are now cautious. It explains why, despite Mr Peter Otieno appearing at the ICC as a witness, the residents have accepted his role and he has been welcomed back to the fold. Some people tried to create rumours that his house had been torched, but they failed to incite the community to take the law into its hands.

Otieno was a trade unionist who, as a witness for former police commissioner Maj-Gen (Rtd) Hussein Ali, testified how police rescued him and his family in Naivasha. Reports that his rural home in Migori County could be a target for attack following his testimony at The Hague turned out to be unfounded.

The fact that Ruto, Uhuru, Muthaura and arap Sang have been charged for full trial by the ICC and no violence has taken place is an indication that Kenyans are now trying to coexist. It is an indication that there will be no violence in the future.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya

Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

KENYA: MEGA LAND SCANDAL HAS HIT KISUMU CITY LIKE THUNDERBOLT PROMPTING THE TOWN CLERK TO SEEK POLICE INTERVENTION AND PROTECTION.

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Report By Ndira Uradi In Kisumu City

Mega land scandals in the Kisumu Municipality has reached its climax following the disclosure early this week by the Town Clerk that his life was in danger following threats issued by fellow senior chief officers of the Council and other stakeholder.

The Town Clerk Christopher Odhiambo Rosana, a man who is well known for his tough administrative prowess and management expressed fears that his life was in danger and alleged that he had threatened by some senior Council officials.

At the same time two senior officials of the Council were summoned to the district CID offices in Kisumu where they were reported to have recorded statements with the police. There has been some disquiet and complaints to the effect that senior council officials and some unscrupulous civic leaders in the lakeside City were involve in rampant corruption in regards to illegal sells and allocation of land plots.

As the result of this illegal transactions involving public utility land, Council houses and all available land pace in Kisumu, some of the officials and their accomplices have become millionaires overnight.

At first it was thought that the civil leaders and the chief officers wanted to deplete the town of its prime land for the future development and expansion a head of the arrival of the County governance. The have so far left the Lakeside City with no land space for future development, especially industrial expansion and housing development schemes. Almost e every single piece of land in Kisumu has been sold to either individuals or to the rich individuals. And those suspected to be involved in the scam are said to have minted millions of shillings.

The issue has been in the public domain for a couple of years. Insiders now say that Kisumu is a City with no land for both business and industrial expansion. All the land available including the one belonging to Kisumu Municipal Council as well as its house has been sold.

When he arrived in town about three months ago and took over as the new Town Clerk, Mr Odhiambo Rosana had introduced stringent administrative rules that requires all members of the staff to account for their activities and to disassociate them from any kind of land transaction. This has seen many senior official getting cautioning letters while either have been reprimanded to mend their ways, other faces suspension pending investigation to establish their involvement in the “Mega Land Scandal”.

These stringent measures have earned the Town Clerk many enemies within the same institution. And on Monday this week, Mr Rosana reported to the Kisumu CID that he had received several calls threatening his life.

The Town Clerk is reported to have rubbed his working colleagues the wrong way by having revoked some land sales and allocations, which he felt were irregular in terms o hr law governing such allocations and transaction and had instituted investigation or revoked them altogether.

Instead of the wronged plot owners seeking legal redress through the established courts of law, they have resorted to using oblique techniques of issuing threats to the Town’s Chief Administrator. What has so far not been divulged to the public is the stance of the Mayor Coun.Sam Okello whose administration has witnessed one of the worse land scandals in Kisumu ever since independence in 1963.

Mayor Okello is said to be enjoying the patronage of the Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga and he is a an ODM nominated Councilor who had contested the election in Muhoroni on a KANU ticket, but after he was beaten hand down by the current Muhoroni MP Prof Patrick Ayiecho Olueny, was later imposed on the elected civic leaders in Kisumu against the amid vehement opposition by the elected civic leaders under the pretext that he was an industrialist and businessman magnate in the Coastal City of Mombasa and would import his experience to to create business opportunities and good investors environment in the City. Raila had to intervene personally in order to have Mayor Okello’s re-elected for the second term last year when civic leader were coerced to vote for him or the second term.

Rosana said that his concerted effort to fight corruption and restore sanity in the Council could be the reason why he he is being threatened.

He added, “It is true I have been getting threats and some of them have gone as telling me to go slow over several issues. I suspect they are unhappy with my management and want to scare me out of the Council, “ said Rosana.

Land Minister James Orengo is being accused of presiding over the most corrupt ridden Ministry. In some outpost’s districts such as Migori, Homa-Bay, Kisumu and Siaya corruption is still thriving. Some of the land officers and district surveyors are acting as if they were magistrates and judges, at time even conspiring with the interested parties in blocking court’s directives.

Ends

Kenya: Corruption in the Land Sector

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from Yona Maro

This joint Transparency International and FAO Working Paper draws attention on corruption in land tenure and administration. Unprecedented pressures on land have been created as new areas are cultivated, taken over by expanding urban centres or are abandoned due to degradation, climate change and conflict. These developments have strained the rules, processes and institutions that determine which land resources are used, by whom, for how long and under what conditions. As evident around the globe, where land governance is deficient, high levels of corruption often flourish. Weak land governance tends to be characterized by low levels of transparency, accountability and the rule of law. Under such a system, land distribution is unequal, tenure is insecure, and natural resources are poorly managed. As a consequence, social stability, investment, broad-based economic growth and sustainable development are undermined.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/am943e/am943e00.pdf
—
East Africa Jobs www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

Jobs in Tanzania www.utumishitz.blogspot.com

Kenya: Mama Lucy Kibaki on Syokimau, Mugo Kibaki Syokimau, Kimunya Syokimau = Moi’s unfinished Business

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From: Judy Miriga

Folks,

In Summary,

Since Mama Lucy Kibaki is on Syokimau, Mugo Kibaki on Vision 2030 on Syokimau, Kimunya on Syokimau = Raila is Vision 2030 Advocacy %age Commission Agent = Corruption = Land Grabbing = Moi’s unfinished Business……..Business as usual, the reason “Birds of the Same Feather” associate with the International unscrupulous Corporate Business of Special Interest Cartels with Indians and Chinese as Facilitating Business Commission Investor Agent……..Why, Coalition Government in the leadership of Kibaki and Raila is irrelevant to Public Interest as is in the New Constitution, and is why they are busy manipulating the New Constitution, the change we all want ……….and so it is why we must work harder united for a cause to achieve a complete revolution to gain the change we all want which will be based on Common Interest of all on mutual Partnership Agenda, based in a shared Development Program of Give and Take, to protect and secure Public Wealth ……….people!!!…….Wake up and Connect the dots people!!!!….

And…….we must see that, Justice must come to pass …….it is now or never…….Sad to say the least…….

Thank you all,

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –
——Forwarded—

Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital on the spotlight

Uploaded by ktntvkenya on Nov 10, 2011

The doctor’s strike at Kenyatta National hospital has drawn attention to the sad state of healthcare in the country. Thousands of patients were left stranded at East Africa’s largest referral hospital as another major facility in kayole remained empty. Two months after it opened its doors, mama lucy kibaki hospital is yet to begin admitting patients thanks to a lack of basic facilities and an alleged procurement scandal.

Syokimau probe

Uploaded by K24TV on Nov 23, 2011

Transport minister Amos Kimunya’s personal assistant gave verbal

instruction from the minister to demolish residential houses in Syokimau.

Kibaki Speaks On Syokimau Demolitions

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Nov 29, 2011

President Mwai Kibaki has warned investors and Kenyans at large against falling prey to conmen and fraudsters, especially when dealing with land transactions. In an apparent reference to the vicious land ownership tussle in Syokimau, which led to demolitions of houses and which is subject to a probe by a joint committee of parliament, the President nonetheless promised that the Government would uphold respect for private property as long as it was legally acquired. Meanwhile, the Syokimau demolitions probe continued Tuesday with both the lands and local government ministries asserting that the controversial piece of land belonged to the Kenya Airports Authority and lay within Nairobi County. Evelyn Wambui reports.

Syokimau Demolition Probe revelations.flv

Uploaded by ktntvkenya on Nov 30, 2011

Officials at the Lands Ministry created fake documents to help the conmen selling public land in Nairobi’s Syokimau area. Lands commissioner Zablon Mabea made this confessionWednesday adding that the culprits could not be caught because they had stolen the file they created. Appearing before a joint parliamentary committee investigating recent demolitions in the city, Mabea said one land-buying company paid the ministry of lands 3.1 million shillings in premiums. The lands boss, however, insisted documents used in the land deals were fake.

Syokimau Demolition Probe revelations.flv

Uploaded by ktntvkenya on Nov 30, 2011

Mugo Kibati -Syokimau railway station

Uploaded by parallelmedia1 on Jul 25, 2011

Mugo Kibati -Syokimau railway station

Syokimau Commuter Rail Station

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Jul 18, 2011

A modern commuter railway station being constructed at Syokimau in Embakasi is expected to be completed by the end of this year, as plans to turnaround Kenya’s urban transport system begin taking shape. Already 60% of the project which will ease traffic flow on major highways has been completed and the government is now in the process of acquiring additional land to put up a car park for motorists who will leave their cars at the station and board a train to the city. And as Denis Otieno reports the project will include the construction of a 2 storey terminal building, boarding and disembarking ramps for passengers as well as an interchange facility for public service vehicles dropping and picking passengers at the station.

Commuter Train 2030 Plan

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Aug 16, 2010

The Kenya Railways Corporation is expected to embark on the construction of a new metropolitan railway network in just a matter of weeks. The Vision 2030 secretariat which is co-ordinating the implementation of the projects under the economic blueprint confirmed that the ground breaking ceremony for phase one of the project will be conducted next month. The new railway which will run on a high speed standard gauge railway and completely new coaches will originate from the current Nairobi railway station and terminate at a new station to be built in Embakasi.

Commuter Train 2030 Plan

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Aug 16, 2010

Syokimau Demolitions losses

Uploaded by ktntvkenya on Nov 14, 2011

no description available

Mama, cry loud, God will revenge? soon. Raila you’re the PM now, on the line of presidential candidte, you can’t even protect your people? how will you promise to protect them in the future?Is this the promised land, where people cry. The promised land “New Earth” which Jesus promised to bring, no sorrow , no pain,no crying like this. Don’t cheat Kenyans.
calesh02 2 weeks ago

Syokimau Demolitions Enter Day 2

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Nov 13, 2011

Government bulldozers continued flattening houses in Syokimau for the second consecutive day. Over 200 housing units within a 3KM radius from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport have been earmarked for demolition, an exercise carried out under tight security by both the regular and administration police officers. And as Sheila Sendeyo reports, controversy surrounds the demolitions with residents claiming that they have genuine documents proving ownership of the land, which they say were issued to them by the government.

Syokimau land saga… Grow up GOK

Uploaded by MrMujama on Nov 15, 2011

GOK screwed planning i support syokimau residents

Who Owns Syokimau Land?

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Nov 15, 2011

WHO’S FOOLING WHO?: KAA presents Syokimau title deed. Over 5000 other people also hold titles.So whose land is this?

Why let us build homes then demolish them?

Uploaded by capitalfmkenya on Nov 14, 2011

http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2011/11/why-let-us-build-homes-then-demolish-…

Heated Debate Over Syokimau Demolitions

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Nov 15, 2011

STORM OVER SYOKIMAU: MPs demand answers from the govt. Orengo: the title deeds are forged.

Syokimau Demolitions

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Nov 17, 2011

Lands Minister James Orengo, Transport Minister Amos Kimunya and Attorney General Professor Githu Muigai are among five cabinet members set to appear before a joint parliamentary committee, Monday, to be grilled over the controversial Syokimau demolitions. The special committee led by Gachoka Member of Parliament, Mutava Musyimi will seek to unearth the reasons behind the demolitions that saw more than 200 families displaced after their homes were flattened. This, even as 15 structures housing members of the Maasai community in Kapani, Embakasi, were demolished yesterday. but, as Willis Raburu reports, the Kenya airports authority says it continued with the demolition exercise as it was only served with the order yesterday afternoon. KAA says it will abide by the court order.

Syokimau Demolitions

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Nov 12, 2011

Scores of residents in Syokimau area have been left homeless after bulldozers flattened their houses worth millions of shillings off Mombasa Road in Nairobi under the supervision of armed administration and regular police officers. According to Kenya Airports Authority, the houses sit in the corridor flight path, which poses a great risk to the safety of planes as well as the lives of the dwellers. Sally Mbilu reports on a demolition riddled with controversy as residents claim that the land dispute was in court and they had not been issued with any eviction notice, amid claims by the Kenya Airports Authority to the contrary.

Syokimau Demo

Uploaded by K24TV on Nov 18, 2011

Mlolongo area residents protest over the on going Syokimau demolitions.

Notes On Voluntary Dealings In Land Titles And Deeds

1. Sale, mortgage, lease, special power of attorney and trusts are examples of voluntary dealings. They are entered voluntarily by the parties. Unlike an involuntary dealings, the owner doesn’t want the transaction to be registered. The owner wouldn’t want his property be subject of an attachment, adverse claim or notice of lis pendens.
2. Registration is the necessary act for the transaction to bind third parties.
3. Actual knowledge is equivalent to registration. Registration is to give notice. If the person knows about the transaction, it is deemed that the transaction has been registered.
4. Registration should be done in the correct registry. If it is a titled property, there is a separate book for titled property. If it is a dealing with unregistered property, there is a different book for unregistered land. If you register in a different book, there is no registration that is valid as against third persons.
5. The constructive notice mentioned in PD1959 is conclusive.
6. There is a distinction with regard voluntary and involuntary dealings with the effectivity of registration. With involuntary dealings, once there is entry in the day book and paid the needed fees and taxes, the RD issues the new title and cancels the old one. Once there is compliance, the transaction is considered
registered. With voluntary dealings, entry in the day book is insufficient.
7. Mere entry in the day book/primary book is sufficient. It is often times that owners don’t want to surrender their owner’s duplicate.
8. Carry-over of encumbrances. Suppose that you purchase property and there was prior mortgages and notice of lis pendens. These encumbrances will be carried over to the new certificate issued to the buyer.
9. Can you sell only a portion of your property? You can have it annotated. But if the buyer would like a separate title, then he should submit a subdivision plan, there should be a technical description. The old title would be cancelled and a new title issued covering the portion sold.
10. Basically the procedure of registration for voluntary dealings can be categorized into two—if it is an absolute sale or mortgage. If it is a sale, the deed of sale and title should be submitted. There should also be proof of payment of real estate taxes as well as registration fees and documentary stamp taxes. With that, the Registry of Deeds shall make the corresponding entry that will cancel the old certificate of title and issue a new one in favor of the buyer. If it
is merely an encumbrance however, the document shall only be presented to the RD, payment of the corresponding amount and the corresponding annotation done by the RD is notice to third persons.
11. If it is judicial foreclosure, you register the order of the court confirming the sale. If it is extrajudicial foreclosure, you register the order of the sheriff.
12. For implied trusts, read the case of Aznar Brothers. It has two kinds—resulting trust and constructive trust. If it is an implied resulting trust, prescriptive period is 10 years from time of repudiation.
13. It is dependent on the facts and circumstances of the case on whether who would have a better right, the owner or the mortgagee. But generally, when it is through a forged deed, then the owner would have a better right over the property. The forged deed is a nullity. On the other hand, when there is chain of
title, the innocent purchaser in value would have a better right.
14. Doctrine of mortgagee in good faith. If the property is mortgaged to an innocent mortgagee, it is possible that he would have a better right over the property than the real owner.
15. Even if the title is null and void, there is still validity of the mortgage. The mortgagee has a right to rely on the title, provided there is nothing that would arise suspicion on the part of the mortgagee.
http://www.batasnatin.com/law-library/civil-law/land-titles-and-deeds/1476-notes-on-voluntary-dealings-in-land-titles-and-deeds.html

Related Law Resources

Guidelines on how to detect fake titles
NO TIME LIMIT TO FILE PETITION TO ANNOTATE A DEED OF SALE
PROCEDURE WHERE ONLY PORTIONS OF LAND ARE CONVEYED
ISSUANCE OF DECREE OF REGISTRATION AND CERTIFICATE OF TITLE
HEIRS OF VENCILAO, SR. V. COURT OF APPEALS 288 SCRA 574
Reliance On Title Alone On Registered Lands Does Not Appy To Banks
More Law Resources
DUTY OF OWNER TO DELIVER TITLE OF THE CONDOMINIUM UNIT
Time of Completion of Subdivision or Condominium Plans
LIABILITY OF OWNER FOR BREACH OF WARRANTIES- CONDOMINIUM UNIT BROCHURES
MORTGAGE OF CONDOMINIUM WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF BUYER IS AN UNSOUND BUSINESS PRACTICE
REGISTRATION OF SALE OF SUBDIVISION LOTS AND CONDOMINIUM UNITS
The period within which to appeal the decision of the Board of Commissioners of the HLURB
TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OR CHANGE OF NAME OF A SUBDIVISION OR CONDOMINIUM
JURISDICTION OF THE NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board
WHEN A PERSON AUTOMATICALLY CEASES AS A STOCKHOLDER IN A CONDOMINIUM CORPORATION
THE OWNER OF A UNIT IS CONSIDERED A SHAREHOLDER IN THE CONDOMINIUM CORPORATION
Additional Law Resources
DUTY OF REGISTER OF DEEDS TO REGISTER DOCUMENT PRESENTED FOR REGISTRATION IS MINISTERIAL
REGISTRATION OF INSTRUMENTS DEALING WITH UNREGISTERED LAND
Land Registration Circular No. 35
JUDICIAL RECONSTITUTION UNDER REPUBLIC ACT 26
SECTION 109 OF THE LAND REGISTRATION ACT GOVERNS REPLACEMENT OF LOST DUPLICATE CERTIFICATE
NO ALTERATION OR AMENDMENT OF DECREE OF REGISTRATION IS PERMITTED EXCEPT UPON ORDER OF THE COURT
COURT MAY NOW HEAR BOTH CONTENTIOUS AND NONCONTENTIOUS CASES
PROCEEDINGS UNDER SECTION 112 OF THE LAND REGISTRATION ACT ARE SUMMARY IN NATURE
WHEN TO FILE PETITION FOR AMENDMENT OR ALTERATION OF CERTIFICATE
WHERE TO FILE PETITIONS OR MOTIONS AFTER ORIGINAL REGISTRATION

Kenya: Vision 2030 Illegally and unconstitutionally Targeted Public Wealth, Community Land and Water Towers

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from Judy Miriga

To: Your Exellency President Obama with World Leaders
United Nations Security Council Attention: Susan Rice
United Nations Chairman Ban Ki-Moon
ICC Hague
Congressman Chris Van Hollen
Koffi Annan

CC: The Chief Judge in Kenya Willy Mutunga
Deputy Chief Judge, Nancy Baraza
Attorney General Kenya
Kenya Embassy Washington DC

Re: Land Grabbing for Vision 2030 is the reason for 2007/8 election gone bad in Kenya and is the same reason for ongoing aggravated Corruption, Impunity and Genocide is linked to East Africa Community, why Abuse and Violation Against Humanity is Commonplace destroying livelihood in Africa…….reason for Economic Crime against Middle-class and Poor of African Continent

On behalf of the voiceless, I forward this email to the following addressed for urgent authority attention and intervention and so it can be given Legal Hearing at both Kenya Courts and at the Hague against the Coalition Leadership in Kenya. We would like to have early investigation to the matter as it is the reason why Devolution of Counties have been delayed or is in go-slow…….We are crying for justice……..

Land Grabbing violates Human Rights and is a crime against humanity. It is an Extra Judicial Offense where victims were pushed to Desperate situations requiring Desperate measures for Urgency of Local Legal dispensation and ICC Hague intervention. These were factors that led to 2007/8 election gone bad in Kenya. The fact that the problems must be addressed and fixed as early as possible without any further delay. We noticed that only one Tribe amongst Kenyans (The few Kikuyu’s), Chris Kirubi with Raila own and control public wealth they acquired illegally and unconstitutionally.

Initiators and Operatives of Kenya’s Vision 2030 have committed Serious Offense to Kenyan Victims of circumstances including parts of East African Community, Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan with other regions of South Africa…….

Vision 2030 was based in three pillars, namely Economic development, Social Development and Political Development. It was based on Land Grabbing and abused Rights of Indigenous People to self-determination from being deprived of one’s means of subsistence to Livelihood and survival. The Rural Community Traditions and Cultures were interfered with, their Agricultural land and fishing taken away through forceful means and by grabbing such like Migingo and fencing the lake and the sea from public use. People are now faced with no access to food and other basic needs. This is cutting the Local Community from its natural survival and plans for their children’s future.

It has been proved that, instead of Socio/Economic and Political development progress of middle-class and the poor, the progress was felt in reverse. The Middle-Class and the Poor were squeezed through intimidation, manipulation and threats and were forcefully evicted and stolen off their meaningful and responsible survival and livelihood. It was the International Corporate Special Interest network of the unscrupulous Corrupt politically correct, who benefited from the illegal and unconstitutional process of acquisition and access to Public Wealth of taxpayer money, financial and natural resources through Land Grabbing with forceful eviction. The corrupt Coalition Government in their Political class refuse to comply to public mandate and interest even after funds were released for Draught, Hunger, to eliminate poverty and provide a Development according to National Reform Agenda…..Targeting Water Tower for vision 2030 without fully involving and engaging the Community is unconstitutional and illegal.

The Coalition Government Leadership with former President Moi along with their network connection are Guilty of Social, Economic and Political Abuse, Violation and Crime Against Humanity until proven otherwise.

They jointly in their Corporate Network of International Special Interest, colluded under conspiracy to commit Extra Judicial Offenses in Economic Crime Against Humanity, Social Abuse and Violation of Rights in, Human Trafficking where they denied people descent and responsible livelihood but exposed people to insecurity, assassinations, pain and long suffering and finally, they committed grave Political Crime Against Humanity through Abuse of Public Office.

Vision 2030 failed to bear fruit because, public and the community were not engaged or involved Democratically in the Program process. It is also because Public Mandate was not respected or valued from the start of the program. There were therefore no balance in the development activities of 2030 as there were no trickle bottom-up Representing Broader Diversity of Opinion to motivate and reduce threats for collapse……and this is because, Vision 2030 was not based on the Reform Agenda, but overlooked and by-passed the New Constitution on behalf of Corrupt and Unscrupulous International Corporate Special Interest.

Kenya is still hurting and hurting very badly. People are still very angry with Kenya’s leadership as the leadership decided to go against Public Interest, they are non-compliant to their oath taking, and they do things against Public Mandate. Cost of food and fuel is going up daily, domestic electricity is unaffordable, and survival is next to impossible. The environment is still fluid because only a handful political leadership own and control public wealth illegally and unconstitutionally. Taxpayer money is carelessly mismanaged while people are dying in rain flood as banks have overflowed the river banks. People and animals are dying yet the Government have not urgently responded, they are busy partying and doing mark-time…….We are now convinced that this is let loosely so that people will die quickly for the cartels to invade the areas…….It is very very sad indeed………

Doctors and Unionized workers are demonstrating for lack of Coalition Government goodwill. This cannot be tolerated for any further extension. It is peoples lives that are in jeopardy and lives are at stake. Unless these Politicians face justice, nothing will be resolved.

Grand corruption, Impunity and Genocide in Kenya from such like Extra Judicial Police Killings, Goldenberg, Anglo-leasing, Grand Regency, Land Grabbing, Migingo, Kazi kwa Vijana, Free Education Fund, maize scandal, Triton, Water Dam Scandal, Cemetery, Forceful Evictions, land Grabbing, careless Police assassinations, Luo’s forceful circumcision as opposed to responsible and acceptable HIV/Aids program with others not listed here must be heard before legal justice and victims fully compensated.

Things are not going well and we seek Legal intervention urgently before things fall apart.

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Mugo Kibati, CEO Vision 2030 on The New Kenya

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Jan 19, 2011
Sunday Live host Julie Gichuru interviewed Mugo Kibati, CEO Vision 2030 on the big question Where have we come from? and Where are we going to? Are you ready for the new Kenya?

Missing skills in vision 2030

Uploaded by NTVKenya on Nov 23, 2010
Vision 2030, the government’s policy blueprint for turning Kenya into a middle income economy in twenty years, is in danger of running into a brick wall if issues of demographics and lack of skills among the youth are not addressed. This is according to the Institute of Economic Affairs, and here is why they are saying that.

TEDxNairobi – James Nyoro – Kenya’s Vision 2030

Uploaded by TEDxTalks on Nov 3, 2010
James Nyoro, Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation Africa Office speaks at TEDx Nairobi held on September 18th on Kenya’s Vision 2030 and how the country can work towards achieving this vision.

James Nyoro is an agricultural economist with special passion on food security issues in Africa and Kenya in particular. James is the Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation, Africa office based in Nairobi, Kenya. He oversees the Rockefeller Foundation’s work across Africa, strengthening and complementing the foundation’s initiatives around the globe.

About TEDx
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

Vision 2030 Constitution

Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Aug 13, 2010
The vision 2030 delivery board says the passage of the new constitution will boost the achievement of vision. The board says the new constitution fits perfectly into its plans to transform Kenya into an industrialized, middle-income country by the year twenty thirty. Andrew Ochieng reports.

Vision 2030 action plan to change from 2013

Uploaded by NTVKenya on Aug 9, 2010
The coming into force of the country’s new constitution will alter the implementation of the next five years phase of the country’s long-term development masterplan — the Kenya Vision 2030. While emphasizing that the goals and aspirations contained in that blueprint will not change, the Director General of the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Board, Mugo Kibati says the Board is currently contemplating how the Vision’s programs will be implemented from the year 2013 under a new constitutional order.

Vision 2030 report card

Uploaded by NTVKenya on May 26, 2010
The government is falling behind in the implementation of Vision 2030. The first Annual progress report for the medium term plan of the vision indicates that the country failed to meet most of the targets set towards the achievement of the vision. The government however met some targets and says the vision remains on course.

Kenya’s Vision 2030 under threat

Uploaded by NTVKenya on May 21, 2009
Economic growth decline blurs vision 2030

why do you even compare our economic growth with japan and the west ,its a waste of time and money, we should? concenrate on weeding out corruption and masters of corruption before we make empty speeches of comparison with the west . wake up kenyans

Realising Vision 2030

Uploaded by NTVKenya on Nov 7, 2009
http://www.ntv.co.ke
Expect a report every three months telling you how far Kenya is from becoming a middle-income country by the year 2030. That was one of the decisions reached today by the 30-member board charged with the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of Kenyas development master plan. The Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Board has also resolved to meet once every month to ensure that no bureaucratic hurdles derail the implementation of projects outlined in the blueprint. Stephen Kimani reports.

Kibaki launches vision 2030 oversight board

Uploaded by NTVKenya on Oct 12, 2009
President Mwai Kibaki, presided over another equally confusing government initiative. The president launched a board to oversee the implementation of Kenyas long-term development master plan the Kenya Vision 2030. And contrary to how boards are constituted especially in corporate circles, this one has a membership of a whopping 32 individuals.

Govt launches economic plan

Uploaded by NTVKenya on Aug 19, 2009
http://www.ntv.co.ke
President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have launched a 22 billion shilling economic stimulus plan, which was contained in a four-year strategic plan for the Office of the Prime minister. President Kibaki urged the PM to speed up the process of reclaiming the countrys water towers. Raila on his part took issue with the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission saying it had failed the country in the fight against corruption.

Saving Kenya’s ‘water towers’
Aug 19 2011 In eastern African 12.4 million people are suffering terrible drought. Katrina Manson, east Africa correspondent, visits a project in the Aberdare National Park in Kenya which aims to stop deforestation. Here the mountain forests are known as “water towers”; they are an essential ecosystem to protect as they supply everything from hydroelectric power to Nairobi’s domestic water. (3m 37sec)

An elusive Vision 2030

Uploaded by NTVKenya on Aug 12, 2009
http://www.ntv.co.ke
Vision 2030; an ambitious plan launched a year ago with the mission being the transformation of Kenya into a middle level economy. This is a plan that now comes under sharp focus as the country grapples with a multi-fronted crisis combining the basics such as energy, food and water. And as NTVs Brenda Mulinya reports, the question is in the circumstances likely to be asked; is vision 2030 just another pipe dream?

Vision 2030: What it will cost

Uploaded by NTVKenya on Jun 10, 2008
Vision 2030

Wednesday December 15th 2010

Government Names National Water Towers Management Committee

The government has appointed a nine-man team to oversee the management of the country‘s five water towers in a move expected to unlock donor funding and give fresh impetus to the rehabilitation effort launched two years ago.

The National Water Towers Management committee set up last week by Prime Minister Raila Odinga to lobby for funding and guide the process of rehabilitating the country’s forest services is made up of top government officials, conservationist and members of foreign missions.

“These appointments are in accordance with the government’s financial management regulations on water towers conservation funds and take effect from December 1,”Mr Odinga said in last week’s gazette notice.

The team is headed by the chairman of East African Wildlife Society, Prof. Fredrick Onyango, and will be in office in the next two years.

Other members are Finnish Embassy forestry expert Taina Velthem, Italian Embassy official Leon Comin, Rhino Ark veteran Colin Church and Egerton University Council vice chairman Mohamed Awer Mohamed.

The country has five main forest areas – Mt. Kenya, the Aberdare Ranges, the Mau Complex, Mt Elgon, and the Cherangani hills – which have been depleted alarmingly by human encroachment. UNEP estimates the loss in sectors such as agriculture, water and tourism have suffered due to destructions of the Mau complex alone at sh24billion.

Report Courtesy of Business Daily

http://kenyaforests.blogspot.com/2010/09/water-towers-conservation-fund-now.html
Water Towers Conservation Fund Now Gazetted
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance has published in the Kenya Gazette the regulations establishing the Water Towers Conservation Fund. The Fund will support the restoration, conservation and sustainable management of the Mau Forests Complex and the other waters towers in Kenya in an equitable, efficient and transparent manner.
The regulations were prepared by the Interim Coordinating Secretariat, the Ministry for Finance and the Attorney-General Chambers after consultation with other relevant ministries. The establishment of the Fund is part of the Interim Coordinating Secretariat’s mandate which includes “to develop the framework for long-term measures to restore and sustainably manage the Mau Forests Complex and other water towers”.
In line with the regulations, the Office of the Prime Minister, being the ministry for the time being responsible for the coordination of the rehabilitation, conservation and sustainable management of the Mau Forests Complex and other water towers, will operationalize and administer the Fund.
The Fund will be managed by a National Water Towers Management Committee that will comprise eight members:
– The Chairman who shall not be a public officer, appointed by virtue of his knowledge and experience in matter relating to good governance and the management of public resources;
– The Permanent Secretaries from the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and Ministry of Water and Irrigation; and,
– Four other persons appointed by virtue of their knowledge and experience in matters relating to the management of public resources, financial management, restoration, sustainable management and conservation of natural resources, including forest, land and water resources and mainstreaming of poverty reduction strategies in sustainable rural development.
Kindly peruse the notice by clicking the link provided in the Mau Restoration Website

Report courtesy of the Interim Coordinating Secretariat (ICS)
Kenya: Egypt to Help Save Water Towers
Pmps
23 May 2010
Nairobi — Egypt is prepared to aid the conservation of Kenya’s water towers as they are a major source of the River Nile.
Speaking in Cairo when he held talks with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak instructed his Prime Minister, Dr Ahmed Nazif to work out the finer details of the support at a meeting he will hold with Mr Odinga on Tuesday.
President Mubarak emphasised that his country would help Kenya and other countries at the source of the Nile to increase the water levels in Lake Victoria.
Mr Odinga said that Kenya understand what the Nile means to Egypt and the responsibility the country has in conserving the waters.
“Therefore, Kenya has invested heavily in environmental conservation, for example in the Mau,” added the PM.
Saying that Kenya would not be party to plans to compromise the security of other countries that use the Nile, Mr Odinga called for cooperation among all states that share the waters of the river.
He pointed out that 40% of the water in Lake Victoria is from sources in Kenya.
In this regard, the Premier appealed to Egypt to sign the Cooperative Framework Agreement that intends to transform the Nile Basin I
…

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Kenya: Mutindwa market traders want alternative land

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By Joseph Mwangi

Following a report in parliament by Roads Minister Franklin Bett that a consultant is due to conclude his work on March, 2012 to undertake expansion of Outer Ring road, traders operating at Mutindwa market are now appealing to the Local Government Minister to allocate them alternative land to put up their businesses.

Bett was replying to a question by Makadara MP Mike Sonko who wanted to know if the minister was aware of the frequent traffic snarl-ups on Outer Ring Road, especially at the Donholm and Kariobangi roundabouts, and what immediate and longterm measures will the Government take to remedy the problem.

In his reply, the minister categorically stated that Mutindwa market traders will be given notice to vacate to pave way for the expansion of the road. It is this answer which provoked Sonko who stood on a point of order and asked “Could he give a further undertaking that when the construction works on the Outer Ring Road begin, we will not experience another Syokimau demolition and that the Government will issue notices and compensate all property owners whose properties will be affected by the extension of this road, including the Mutindwa Market?”

On his part, Bett replied “Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will not give an undertaking not to demolish structures on the road reserves. If structures are on the road, bona fide road reserves, they will have to be removed. My Ministry will, however, endeavour to give notice to the illegal occupants of the road reserves”. Sonko is now demanding that apart from giving notice, the traders should be reallocated to an alternative land.

The traders are now demanding that their MP should pile pressure on the Local government Minister Musalia Mudavadi to ensure the Mutindwa traders are allocated alternative land before they are given notice to demolish the structures.

Sources say, Sonko has agreed to take up the matter with the Government to ensure the families who were earning their living from the market continue with their daily activities uninterrupted. Sonko is known to be defending the rights of his constituents as had been previously seen

In a related development, last week’s ODM polls for Makadara constituency was a do or die battle for former MP Reuben Ndolo whose camp lost to Nairobi Mayor George Aladwa. The elections saw officials allied to Aladwa sweep clean all the seats at the sub-location and location levels as Ndolo and his team sent packing.

Aladwa was elected Nairobi ODM branch chairman but unconfirmed reports said the party’s elections board had called for a repeat poll after Ndolo and Starehe MP Margaret Wanjiru claimed that Aladwa was favoured by the returning officer a claim that Aladwa and his supporters have vehemently denied.

In a quick rejoinder, Aladwa has categorically said that he is ready for a repeat poll and has warned the two politicians to prepare themselves for a devastating defeat.

Some of Aladwa’s supporters were overheard bragging that those are signs of things to come in 2012 elections. Aladwa has been under pressure to contest the Makadara seat in 2012.

Sources now say Ndolo is blaming his political opponents from PNU for lobbying their supporters who are not ODM members to vote against him. He is in particularly pointing accusing finger at Makadara MP Mike Sonko whom he acussed was spotted late in the night holding secret meetings with his supporters where he allegedly distributed huge sums of money to his supporters to vote for Aladwa. According to sources, Sonko was reciprocating on the support Aladwa gave him during the Makadara Constituency by-election when he campaigned for Sonko against Ndolo.

Sonko had earlier reciprocated this when he also lobbied Nairobi councillors allied to PNU to vote for Aladwa during the mayoral elections in which Aladwa was overwhelmingly elected. Ndolo, according to sources is said to be giving up on Makadara politics and is said to have confided in his close allies that he could switch his political base from Makadara to the new Nairobi West constituency or Kibera Constituency.

It will however be interesting to see how Sonko and Aladwa will face off in 2012 elections for the Makadara seat considering that the two are political buddies. But going by Sonko’s development record in Makadara, it will be a near impossible task to unseat Sonko who has made inroads even in what for many years have been perceived as Ndolo and ODM strongholds.

Although pressure is mounting on him to go for the Senate seat, in that event, Aladwa will definitely win the Makadara seat but with Sonko in the race, he better relocate his political base to another constituency. However, Sonko has kept his supporters in the dark as to whether he will defend his Makadara seat or upgrade his political interest in 2012.

KENYA: THE NEWLY REALIGNED RANGWE CONSTITUENCY IS MINERAL RICH AND COULD TURN THE GREATER SOUTHERN NYANZA REGION AROUND

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo In RongoTown

The creation of a separate parliamentary constituency mainly for Homa-Bay town and its environs will now easy pressure of development activities for the older larger Rangwe electoral area.

Previously all the development activities were concentrating in areas along the Lake Victoria, especially areas around Homa-Bay town and its environs.

The reason being so is the fact that nearly all he previous MPS, with exception of Dr. Shem Ochuodho brief stint in the August House between 1992 and 1997, came from around the lake shorelines. They include Prof Ouma Muga (1988-190), Ray Oloo Ndong,’ {1990 -1992}, Prof Ouma Muga {1992-1997}, Dr Shem Ochuodho {1997-2002}, Eng Phillip Okundi {2002=2007} and the incumbent Martin Otieno Ogindo 2007.

The separation of Homa-Bay town and its environs still has left Rangwe as one of the largest rural constituencies in the greater Southern Nyanza region covering half a dozen of Administration Locations, stretches from Oluch –Nyangweso at the northern tip in an area bordering Rangwe and Karachuonyo constituencies.

Rangwe is now covering locations such as Gongo, Kagan East and Kagan West, Kochia East and Kochia West, Gem East, Gem Central and Gem West. Most of these farming administrative rural locations are lying in areas previously neglected, but highly potential for agricultural development, and massive production.

The upper part of the constituency, particular from the boundary of Bonchari on the Kisii side, along he Riana Valley is said to be holding massive deposits but untapped wealth in the precious stones {Gold}. These areas which are close to River Riana which wounding up and flow its water into River Kuja {Gold}.

The gold deposits which is said to be of commercial value runs underneath of both some parts of Rangwe and neighboring Rongo constituencies. It starts from Go Nyinyo in Kamwango sub-Location in North Kamagambo run down to Oboke Market in Rangwe down to opapo in Ndhiwa.

This particular area covering River Riana valley winding up at Marindi Trading Center has also potential for sugar cane growing apart from the cash crops such as maize, vegetable, sorghum, coffee and other domestic crops. Several investors both local and international companies have been reported to have shown interests in establishing a new medium size white sugar manufacturing plant around Opapo. The areas mentioned has the best annual rainfall, which is conducive for massive production.

However, a young Nairobi based entrepreneur has come forward with a far reaching plans and strategy to develop the agro-based small cottage manufacturing industries, which is sounding viable.

Eng Joseph Mboya Nyamuthe, who hails from Gem West location within Rangwe constituency, has already established one agro-based industry, which is manufacturing sweet potatoes.The plant is at Ndiru in Kagan Central.

Photo of Eng Joseph Mboya who is trying hard to creaet jobs for the youths by launching agro-based manufacturing plants in Rangwe

Mboya Nyamuthe who announced last week that he would be vying for the Rangwe parliamentary seat hitherto was unknown character and personality in Rangwe, though he has been carrying out feasibility studies on various cash crops and their economic values to the community.

He said h was happy that the residents of Central an parts of Kochia West have resolved to go full blast in pineapple crops, and although already one plan is in the process of being put in place, there will be the need in the near future to have a much bigger pineapple squeezing plant. Pineapple grown in Kochia area has proved to b popular with the hotels an family tables all over Kenya.

He said the greatest impediment is the access and feeder roads across the constituency. Nobody has pressurized he government to construct the highly potential Oyugis Rangwe road. This road is vital because farmer could easily access market places outside the constituency.

The Rangwe -Rodi-Kopany also need to be tarmacked so as to have it linked to the main Homa-Bay-Rongo road. Also needed to be upgraded is Rangwe- Asumbi-Sunika road, and Rangwe Oboke-Rongo road. But priority should be given to Oyugis-Rangwe and Rangwe-Rodi Kopany road.

Rasidents of Rangwe, said Eng ,Mboya Nyamuthe are wondering about where the millions of shillings located for the district road maintenance goes, and yet Oyugis Rangwe road has remained impassable at time even pathetic for close to five years. On the side of Kasipul Kabondo then this road is perfect, but once a motorist crosses into Rangwe constituency then it became nightmarish.

Cotton is another economically important crop, though it has been neglected in he past efforts should be made to have this money minting crops back in production.

Ends

Kenya: A top scholar called upon the youths in Nyanza to discard the culture of looking for free handouts

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Wrrites Leo Odera Omola

A TOP Kenya scholar has appealed to those who are fortunate enough within the society to help the down trodden members of the society to educate their children so that they too could come up.

Prof Douglus Odhiambo said those who are serving in senior positions within the public service and in the private sector should also help the poor families by not only helping them to educate their children, but also by offering them employment in the government and in the private sector.

Prof Odhiambo was speaking during prayer function to mark his younger brother Abner Ochieng’Okaka 80th birthday. The party, which was attended by many people, was held at their Mariwa home in Sakwa South Location, Awendo district within Migori County.

Ochieng’, a retired former civil servant, had served as the Provincial Co-Operative Development Officer in both Nyanza and Western provinces before retiring into sugar cane and mixed farming.

Prof Odhiambo called on the youths to redouble their efforts in farming as the sure way of increasing income generating activities and expediting the development of the region. He also advised the youths to lead a discipline life so that they can live longer.

He warned the youth in Luo-Nyanza to stop the bad culture of looking for free things and handouts and instead to go back to the land and be productive as this as the only sure way of realizing much faster development in the region.

Abner Ochieng’Okaka said Migori County is a region which is blessed with arable and fertile land as well as god annual rainfall therefore there was the need for the people to work hard in farming. Kenya, he said, is an agriculture economy and it is up to the people to make good use of the fertile land they have also to ensure food security.

The major asset of the region is its fertile land, and if properly exploited by way of planting cash crops such as sugar cane, maize, coffee, tea, vegetable, the locals would be able to mint cash money.

Speaker after speaker at the party heaped a lot of praise on Abner Ochieng’Okaka for having initiated various socio-economic projects in the area while serving in the government. They gave as examples the ultra modern dormitory at St. Albert Ulanda Girls High School, Mariwa Dispensary and Mariwa Co-Operative House among many projects he had initiated.

Speaking at the same function, the chairman of the retiree William Ayieko Nyakachunga urged the younger generation to emulate Mzee Abner Ochieng who had sacrifice a lot for the local community.

Nyakachunga appealed to the current leaders to set good examples of exemplary service to the nation

Both Ochieng and his wife Mama Getrude Ochieng’ were primary school teachers before the latter joined the government as a co-operative development officer in the early 1960s and rose through the ladder to become the Provincial Co-Operative development Officer in both Nyanza and Western Provinces.

Ends

KENYA: FIDA WORRIED OVER RISING WIDOW EVICTION CASES IN WESTERN KENYA.

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The Federation of women lawyers , FIDA is alarmed by the ever increasing cases of widows evictions by in-laws especially in Nyanza and Western Kenya regions.

Speaking during a one day media forum at a Kisumu hotel , Mary Frances Lukera, a senior program officer, FIDA Kenya said over 150 such cases have been filed by the organization in the local courts in just a period of two months.

The FIDA official said they were worried that despite the successful completion of widow eviction cases in the courts, most of whose judgements favored the widows, the trend was not going down in these two regions.

She said the worst hit areas includes Kisii, Siaya, Vihiga and Kakamega where she alleged Chiefs and their assistants were allegedly colluding with some of the in-laws to deny widows and orphans the right to inherit properties left behind when a husband dies.

FIDA Kisumu office has established that most of the cases were as a result of attempts by the relatives of the deceased persons to have widows forcefully inherited.

Lukera noted that most women who refuse to be inherited as demanded by their in-laws remains with no option but to leave.

” Majority of them move to urban centers with their children and without a job to help them raise their families many turn to prostitution which makes them more vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS” she said.

From the past such incidents, the official stated that amongst those who are often likely to be chased away by their in laws are childless widows or those who are from a different ethnic community other than that of their spouses.

Those who have girls only or are jobless at the time of death of their husbands are also prone to widow eviction, a form of violation which they described as the worst nightmare for the widows.

The organization is however conducting awareness creation against the practice and so far several workshops and seminars have been held through- out the two regions.

” We are involving the council of elders in these workshops and during our civic education campaigns targeting to reduce incidences of widow evictions and other forms of violation of women rights in Nyanza and Western Kenya.” said Lukera.

She clarified that apart from using the courts to settle family disputes , FIDA has also been instrumental in mediation processes where there is a problem adding the organization is not only about seeking divorce as perceived by most men in the country.

The one day seminar which brought together several Kisumu based journalists from both the electronic and print media was meant to discuss how to report gender based violence objectively and was organized by FIDA Kenya.

ENDS.

KENYA: GOVERNMENT IS TOLD TO TAKE ACTIVE PART IN REGULATING MINERAL EXPLORATION IN PARTS OF GREATER SOUTHERN NYANZA REGION.

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo In MigoriTown.

MEMBERS of the Parliamentary Committee on Land and Natural Resources led by their chairman Matava Musyimi made extensive tour of the mineral rich Nyatike constituency in Migori County to assess for them the situation on the ground.

They were accompanied by the abrasive Nyatike MP Edick Omondi Anyangawho in the recent past has incessantly bitterly complained about what he terms as “grace exploitation” of local gold diggers by foreign and local investors who makes millions in profits, but only paying peanuts to the local people engaged only on manual work of digging and exacerbating for the precious stone.

The purpose of the visit by the committee is to institute proper regulation to govern mining of gold and copper in the area.

During a public meeting and exchange of views held at Macalder, the residents told the MPs that lack of proper legal framework has negated the economic benefits the residents would enjoy from the mining industry in the area.

The residents bitterly complained that the miners do not understand how the companies were going about their businesses and appealed for proper sensitization of the local community.

They said they have no problems with mining firms operating in the area, but they want the government to come up with laws “so that things are put straight “ their spokesman Ouma Nyakiya told the Committee members.

There has been discontentment by the local communities over what they called naked exploitation by multinational and local companies prospecting for the gold in the region. This prompted the area MP Edick Omondi Anyanga to call a for probe over the methods of exporting he precious stone to foreign markets. There were rumors awash that some prospectus could be siphoning the gold for export via the neighboring Tanzania and not paying the necessary taxes to the government coffer.

The legislators who were led by their chairman Hon Rev Mutaba Musyimi promised the residents that the team would come up with a report on the matter. “

“The community wants to know the manner in which these companies are operating. They need sensitization, a proper legislative framework and the government’s protection,”

However, the Nyanza based government geologist Martin Nyakinya defended the investors saying that currently the firm which is on the site {Bedrock} “was undertaking exploration, which he said would take much longer time to yield in actual mining. especially now that many companies that have come for the exercise are pulling out because questions of the financial viability of the project,” said Nyakinya.

The Geologist said one firm, Mid-Migori Company, had been granted the license to prospect for the minerals, but later entered into joint venture with other companies after it fell short of technical and financial capability.

The area MP who conducted the team around Edick Omondi Anyanga appealed to the government to intervene and resolve the issue for the community to benefit from the mining.

“We are standing on gold worth billions of shilling and the government should come in and help the situation,” said the MP.

Earlier the committee members heard that some of the companies which had been licensed to carry out exploration activities, were instead mining the minerals. ”Mining is going on, this is not an exploration exercise. There cannot be 20 years of prospecting and we suspect it is mining that is going on ,” said Mumias MP Benbjami Washiali.

In the late 1930 through to the 1940s and 1950s, there were full fledged gold mining companies in Mcalder Gold and Copper Mines Ltd, and also in Masara, Kihancha in the neighboring Kuria region and Lolgorien in the neighboring Trans-Mara region.

Macalder Mines later changed it hand in the 1950s and it was taken over by the Commonwealth Development Corporation {CDC}.

Another highly vibrant Gold Mines was situated at Kitere in the site where today sits the Mit Campus of the Moi University at Kitere. But all the mines were suddenly closed down in 1962 as the county approached its political independence in 1963. The expatriate miners hurriedly left the country in huff fearing that politically related chaos would erupt and that Kenya was just about to go the Congo way.

Ends

KENYA: WHY WANGARI’S SPIRIT WILL HAUNT FOREST LAND GRABBERS

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BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Prof Maathai Wangi may have died but her spirit will continue haunting few greedy elite Kenyans who grabbed indigenous forests. It goes back to 2003 when the former Minister for the Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife, Dr Newton Kulundu warned that should former power man in Moi’s government, Mr Nicholas Biwott surrender illegally acquired Kaptagat Forest land he would be taken to court-click here-KENYA: Government Contradicts Biwott On Forest

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The Minister reiterated that the allocation of 161 hectares at Kaptagat Forest land to former Cabinet Minister was null and void. The Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife Minister also warned that officers who allocated the forest land to Biwott without considering the environment impact assessment would be sacked.

It all started when Fr. Michael Rop, parish priest at Mokwo Catholic Parish in the Diocese of Eldoret, Western Kenya, began to ask some tough political questions in his homilies and civic education workshops as to why the Kenya government allocated Minister of Trade and Industry Nicholas Biwott a 1,000-acre plot carved out of the nearby Kaptagat Forest, especially since the land had previously been set aside to settle landless and poor squatters in the area.

Biwott, who was also the area’s Member of Parliament, apparently did not take kindly to such inquiries from the church. Instead his supporters and other pro-government activists harassed Father Rop, accusing him of sexual harassment, threatening to evict him from the area, disrupting council parish meetings, and doing other things to undermine him.

It was not only Father Rop whose life was in danger but even his Bishop. On Sunday, July 1, 2001 armed police sealed off entrances to Mokwo Parish in an attempt to stop Bishop Cornelius Korir of Eldoret from entering Holy Family Catholic Church. The police’s attempt failed because they didn’t realize that Korir had spent the previous night in the church compound.

Bishop Cornelius Korir had said the mother of Mr Biwott, the late Mama Maria Sote, was not a national heroine to warrant the hiving off of 1,000 acres of forest land for the construction of a memorial for her.

Despite the fact that international laws on the protection of forests were clear that any one found destroying trees must be charged in court and the Kenya Government provides for similar action, Biwott and other elites who grabbed the forest land in Kenya has never been charged in court of law because they are politically connected individuals.

According to Paul Ndung’u report on illegal allocation of public forest land, among other elite Kenyans who are mentioned include former MP Joseph Kamotho linked to the illegal acquisition of 2.228 hectares in Karura forest in exchange for land of his that was said to have been allocated to the Kenya technical Teachers College. He has ever since denied the allegation.

Mr William Ruto is mentioned in the report as having acquired Ngong Forest land which he later sold it to Kenya Pipeline Company, through his company, at a cost of Sh9.9 million in 2001. Former Gatundu MP Ngengi Muigai is mentioned as having acquired land in Karura Forest area and sold it to Kenya Reinsurance Company.

The Ndungu Report covers ten other forests as well as other public land, ranging from road reserves to cemeteries to public toilets and even State House land. In 2001, for example, land which was part of Ngong Road Forest was illegally excised, subdivided into 32 plots and allocated to 13 companies.

Between 28th and 29th August of the same year, these thirteen companies sold the plots to Kenya Pipeline Company for Ksh 262,388,478. The list of the companies, their directors and proceeds are listed below as per Ndungu report:

8.8 ha allocated for expansion of Langata Women’s Prison but later a big portion allocated to private developers who have constructed residential houses.

15.09 ha allocated in exchange with a prime plot in Industrial Area belonging to Department of Prisons but later allocated to private developers.

53.68 ha allocated to a private developer in 1998.82 ha excised in 1997 – the legal notice was signed by John Sambu- Minister for Energy and Natural Resources.

Like Karura Forest, Ngong serves vital water catchments, environmental and recreational uses. It provides oxygenation which helps ease the high levels of pollution in Nairobi and stabilizes the water table over a large area.

Kenyan former President Daniel arap Moi has also been exposed as one of the main beneficiaries of a controversial plan to cut down nearly 70,000 hectares (170,000 acres) of Kenya’s remaining forest, much of it in the Mau forest, home of Kenya’s Ogiek tribe.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya

Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578

E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke

omolo.ouko@gmail.com

Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

KENYA: RUMA NATIONAL GAME PARK IS GRADUALLY LOSING ITS SPECIAL AND RARE ROAN ANTELOPE

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RUMA NATIONAL GAME PARK IS GRADUALLY LOSING ITS SPECIAL AND RARE ROAN ANTELOPE WHICH IS THE CENTER OF ATTRACTION FOR TOURISTS UNLESS CONSERVATION EFFORT IMPROVES.

Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Homa-Bay.

The rare roan antelope which for decades ago was roaming the hills plains in Eastern, Mt.Elgon and many wild animal sanctuaries in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania is gradually facing inevitable extinction.

Experts say only about 50 are left and their last home is Ruma National Game Park in Mbita district within Homa-Bay County.

The fierce and beautiful almost the size of Greater Kudu and Oryx, the roan antelope is arguably the center of attraction to tourists visiting the Ruma National Park, which is located abut 23 kilometers southwest of the lakeside town of Homa-Bay. The park, however, is administratively part of Mbita district.

During the recently concluded workshop held in Homa-Bay to sensitize the local communities on the importance of the community backed conservation, the Director of the Kenya Wild Life Services Julius Kipng’etich issued an alert signal that the rare roan antelope is gradually facing extinction unless join conservation measures are put in place.

He told the participants that the future of roan antelope in Ruma National Game Park is a matter of urgent concern to the local leaders and the entire communities living within the villages surrounding the park.

The rare roan antelope is great asset to the park, which is expected to play an important economic role in the newly created Homa-Bay County under the new constitutional dispensation as sure way on its revenue and source of the region’s economy. The County is expected to be constituted and inaugurated next year after the general election and will have to improve infrastructure jointly with KWS so as to make it attractive to the tourists and vibrant.

Ruma National Game park houses variety of wildlife, bird and pre-historic sites and there is high expectation that the park, which is he only one in the Southern Nyanza region would be an asset and major source of revenue to the County.

The KWS boss said that the beautiful and rare roan antelope now facing extinction could only be found at Ruma National Game Park. And the workshop was held specifically to be brainstorm on the recovery and conservation of the endangered species of antelope.

Kipng’etich disclosed that the population of roan antelope is rapidly declining at an alarming rate, He attributed this trend to several factors predation, disease and threat to forest habitat.

He said the last position of refuge of the roan antelope globally is in the 120 square kilometers Ruma National Game Park which is found I the Lambwe Valley, about 425 kilometers South West of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

That not withstanding, Kipng’etich warned tat the population of roan antelope at the Ruma National Game Park has drastically declined from202 in 1976 to only about 50 individual currently roaming the park.

“The decline in number shrinking in distribution roan antelope in Kenya necessitate to the formation of a national task force.

The task force will spearhead the process of formulating a national recovery, conservation and management strategy.

The strategy was released by the government last month {August 2011}, is expected to guide the conservation efforts of the roan antelope. It will explore all available options to ensure the species thrives for the present and future generations.

Originally the roan antelope occupied fairly large areas of Southern Kenya. Conservation experts say the antelope used to abundantly occupy all wild animal sanctuaries from Lake Nation to Lake Victoria, Mt Elgon, and Cherangany hills, as well as pockets of Central and Thika, Kitui as well as an area east of Chyulu Hills.

But is populations have declined rapidly during the last 40 years throughout its traditional natural habitat.

The KWS experts say there have been no confirmed reports of species from either Eastern or Mara and Oloolal Escarpment of the Mt Elgon region over the last region..

Kipng’etich told the communities living next to the Ruma National Park to participate fully in the conservation effort of the park if they want to benefit for it.They should imagine and take it serious that this is the last home of the roan antelope in Africa.

He called on local people and leaders from the entire Homa-Bay County to step up their cooperative effort to enhance the county’s rare resources, which he noted is very strategic for the development of the region in terms of employment opportunities..The workshop was also attended by participants from Tanzania and Uganda and the Chief Game Warden at the Ruma National Game Park John Wambua.

uma National Game Park used to be rich in all sorts of wildlife including the Big Five, but owing to human population pressure, the colonial authority in Kenya in the early 1940s ordered to for the physical removal f elephants, the shooting and killing of lions while the few population of rhinos moved out and settle at the nearby Manyuru Forest in Central Kabuch Location, where they were whipped by poachers and this forest is now human villages. The elephants were escorted to Ang’we Forest, which is located six kilometers east of Awendo town, and eventually escorted to the Sikawa Hills now part of the Maasai Mara.

What used to be part ofAng’we forest is now part of the nucleus estates of the SONYSUGAR company based at Awendo’ Effort by the leaders of the former County Council of South Nyanza to have the elephants returned to the park in the early 1960 hit the rock due to logistic problems, but a few herds of buffaloes numbering about 60 are still holed deep in the Lambwe forest and rarely comes out during the day. The buffaloes have become the target of poachers from the surrounding villages using snare wires to capture them for meat and other crude method of killing the animals.

Ends

Tribal Clashes in Kenya are Fueled by Politicians to Evade Responsibilities But Serve Special Interest

1 Reply

from Judy Miriga

Folks,

Tribal Clashes in Kenya are Fueled by Politicians to Evade Responsibilities But Serve Special Interest, for which Raila is part of the conspiracy to illegally acquire Public and Community land unconstitutionally. In which case, both Kibaki and Raila have reasonable cause to face ICC Hague for directly or indirectly providing material support for terrorizing innocent citizens.

Raila is into Presidency more than caring for public interest needs and demands which include safety net for economic sustainability factors based on improving the Nations’ strength and stability in a popular public engagement.

1. The Teachers Union are not mandated to provide basic requirement for Teachers with performance but harmonizes in lobbying for negotiations to improve Teachers’ welfare for better work environment and salaries with other Teachers Security interests needs that are many times being overlooked by their employers…..It is the Government that is mandated to provide basic needs according to Teachers Employment Agreement Act and for the benefit of providing good sustainable service based on innovative education program for Teachers and children. …… The Teachers Union and Parents are co-partners with the Government to offer the best for future benefit of all.

Raila should take serious note that, it is corruption in their coalition government that he need to pay attention, confront and fight openely. Calling teachers salary ‘high’ is an insult considering the tremendous time and energy put by the teachers for children to perform, without incentives or motivation……there are no good prospects offered to the teachers to challenge them to deliver, no Government support and back-up to improve the Education……it is corruption and corruption. We are all wondering what is going on with Prof. Sam Ongeri, why Raila and Kibaki are not out there fighting tooth and nail to remove Ongeri. They have their priorities all wrong. We are yet to here the scandal report of huge sums of money that is lost from Education Ministry has been located……..why Prof. Ongeri is still in the Government when such a serious case of misappropriation of Public Funds have been witnessed. Kibaki and Raila are waiting for the Public to push Prof. Ongeri to ICC Hague for International investigation, since both of them cannot be trusted.

It is out of logics to transfer money for Teachers to pay for police, armed forces and other unneccessary budgeting earmarked allocation that cannot be defined, but are shadowed with unclear functions.

In all these Raila is trying to find escape route and expects public will trust him with Presidency. This is not how things should go. If Raila has failed to fight for the interest of public in the Coalition Government, he has failed in his quest to deliver and he cannot be trusted in being the President of the Country.

2) Samwel Omwenga to fault President Obama is also lack of intelligency and good understanding. He has seen how President Obama has worked hard to deliver in all his campaign promises and how he has continually worked hard to deliver to the public. It can be seen evidently that Special Interest are determined to block him in every way there is, the reason they have gone to the extend of blackmailing and putting the country dangerously exposed to enemies just so they can have their way….This is putting the country to Ransom. This is what Samwel Omwenga is happy joining the forces to state that President Obama has failed to fix the economy.

Omwenga does not understand that as a President, Obama cannot do it alone without 3/4 if not all the elected officials, joining with President Obama to deliver to the public according to public needs (mandate). This is way they were elected by the public. Without people getting into jobs, and when majority are jobless, it is bad for the Country. The Country as a result gets weak. Enemies can take advantage to strike…….(Are they oponents of President Obama doing any good to the Country or hurting the Country, are they providing material support for America to be defeated by Chinese and Asians? Why would they want to do that? Is it their way or No Way….???)……..And this is what Obama stated in his address, that it is the Country first, the Country cannot sit in the LIMBO to wait for 14 months languishing in joblessness while elected officials are creating delaying tactics doing Washington politics. It is because he cannot do it alone why he presented a proposal dosier for creating jobs, so they can sign it Right Away….. ………How can Samwel Omwanga relate this to failure……..???….PM Raila is not even 1/4-way trying hard to deliver to public, instead he joins with those robbing, killing and denying public fundamental basic for survival……Is this what Samwel Omwenga is calling good leadership…???

From this kind of statement, I believe Samwel Omwanga is providing a failed LOBBYIST job to the Raila Odinga group. We understand they are after their selfish agenda mission. They need to go back to the drawing boards to check their basics……..I am wondering, this Omwenga could have been sent……..!!!

The circus at which Kenyan leadership since 1961 is a conspiracy to steal from public Resources and caffers.

It is a continuation of what transpired in 2007/8. They are matters that gravely touch on Land why there are endless land-clashes every election time. Raila is part and parcel of this corrupt group. This underworld syndicate is engineered to steal public land and utilities and manipulate and kill people in masses to drive them away from their communal community homes, from their rightful ownership of land and make them homeless disrupting the natural community establishment. It is a game Raila has mastered so well and is in his gene, why there is a serious problem in Siaya, Lake Victoria, Migingo, Ugingo and the River Nile with all the environment. If we are not careful, his joining with Dominion Farm Team headed by Calvin Burgess, Mungiki, Al-Shaabab, Osienala in South Nyanza. This is why Raila did not want his father to succeed in FORD leadership, the reason why he ganged with Matiba to spoil the Community establishment of the Luos his father respected despite little disagreements here and there between the Luos of the South Nyanza and Luos of Siaya. His mission I came to believe is totally quite different from what his father worked so hard to put together during his time, the reason his father wrote a book “Not Yet Uhuru”.

This is what appealed to me why I joined with his father in the wake of the Multi-party struggle in the original “FORD” 1992.

Raila’s character can be a test to prove he is not a REFORMER when he silenced James Orengo in the Ministry of Lands, when Orengo was on fire to really change the system in the Land Ministry. He blamed Orengo for being a “Whistle Blower” when Orengo begun to attack Kenya Trade Minister Amos Kimunya, the then Minister for Finance.

3. Tribal clashes fueled by politicians for Special Interest since 1978. Since Moi Era, every election time there was politically engineered Tribal Clashes……..see Akiwumi and KNCHR Report… This is how Mungiki and YK92 was officially formed. These illegal groups have been paid through Government Pay Role to-date………Kibaki, Raila, Amos Kimunya, Michuki, Chris Murungaru and others, in the police force Leadership did nothing to improve public security….but provided material support to those terrorizing and killing innocent Kenyans…..

It is about time we must revisit the Akiwumi Report for Rift Valley chaos in 1992, the Mwwangale commission following the murder of J.M.Kariuki in 1975, Ndungu Commission for Land Grabbing, Bosire Commission on Goldenburg scandal of 2002 election. Raila and Kibaki has not shown interest to back-up the Akiwumi report which was adopted by the Parliament by Marende in 2010.

These cases are inter-connected as they all relate to why there is Civil Crimes and mass killings every election time…….all land that are negotiated for foreign investments are PUBLIC LANDs and COMMUNITY LAND, that have been earmarked by these corrupt politicians, it is the reason there are no legal justification, and the reason why Implementation of the New Constitution is becoming an upheld struggle.

However, Raila knows too well that President Obama does not support corruption. This could be the reason why he is sending his mission Agents like Samwel Omwenga to attack President Obama. This he will fail and fail very miserably. He should take stock why he has not been invited to White House. It is all because of corruption. While Raila was in USA, President of Tanzania was visiting White House with President Obama. This should give him food of thought……….and to the International community, Raila should stick with the truth……….!!!…..Nothing is wrong in sticking with the truth. It is the Truth that shall set us all free………..!!!

Obama is not going to give up on Kenya and Africa, but he wants things done the right way. If Samwel Omwenga thinks he can use threats with bad mouthing to shake President Obama, he is day dreaming.

Kibaki and Raila as principles in the Coalition government provided fodder for the corruption, impunity and graft, when they have such advocates paid for their lobbying to continue and engage with activities of corruption knowingly that whatever they are doing are against ethics of New Constitution and are illicit, illegitimate and are unconstitutional. This means, fair service to public and the Nation is curtailed to provide for corruption, impunity and graft. They offered matterial support to all illigality including terrorism of public interests. Let Omwenga check and review his facts, it will not be business as usual.

This Corruption and failure to deliver by the Coalition Government must stop and must not be let to go on.

Raila in my observation does not qualify to be the next candidate for Presidency.

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

Kenya: Yala Swamp ….. Food Security in Kenya’s Yala Swamp

5 Replies

from Judy Miriga

Folks,

The Local Community are stakeholders of any Development taking place in their areas.

1) Any Community Development which is bound to utilize community resources, must include shared interests of all stakeholders fairly in both short and long term.

2) Any development that which involves the community must engage all threshold of concerns and interest of the local community

3) Any development must commit sustainable Partnership in Education, job security, Health, Environmental security, Security, Social and Economic benefit to all stakeholders must be assured in both long and short-term.

4) Any sustainable development must incorporate Partnership management representation on constant reporting for transparency and accountability

5) The Government holds security of “Trust” for the interest of the Local Community Natural Wealth.

Therefore, if these were not taken into consideration at the time of negotiation, then something is wrong and it cannot claim it is producing enough food when people are going hungry. The basic interest and concern of Dominion Farm is to make profitable business not based on the Community……which was not in the initital plan, and without which conflict will be far from being resolved. The community feels they have been cheated and so they have a right to claim back their Resources possibly for fresh renegotiating or otherwise……..and anything less than that the Community has all rights to stop the project of Dominion Farm until agreement is concluded.

I am made to understand that Dominion first arrived as a religious group in search for souls to rescue. In otherwords, it was a Non Profit making undertaking. It beats logics how quickly it turned to Profit making supplying international markets and abandoned its earlier agenda. in 2008 it laid off 100 employees, and recently it has a problem with Siaya Teachers Office Block. Where are the prospective agreement to protect interests of the Local community? The community does not profit from Dominion farm but are into more problems than before. This by any standard is not a profitable short or longterm objective for Siaya Community can bank on….it is not a Development Agenda that can be trusted…….This is a rip-off business to profit the Rich and the powerful…….A lot must be done to build public confidense. People must be told if Dominion are engaged on GMO Ethanol for petrol, rather for International business and not for local human consumption…..a line must be drawn. It is the Truth that shall set us free………

This has nothing to do with US FACT FINDING TOUR IN THE SIAYA/NYANZA area……

Thank you all,

Cheers ….!!!

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

From: okil@ . . .
Subject: Should FBI investigate the diaspora on theattempttokillanAmerica investor in Siaya-County?
Date: Sunday, August 28, 2011, 11:56 AM

Jakaneya,

Considering the joke called Lake Basin Development Authority, Dominion could not have been a bad idea. However, I have always worried that, looking at the plethora of local problems it has had to deal with, the legal papers regulating it, the local Council and the affected community may not have been upto speed!

Nyamodi Ochieng-Nyamogo.

From: “maurice oduor”
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:31:42 +0000
Subject: Should FBI investigate the diaspora on the attempttokillanAmerica investor in Siaya-County?

Okil,

You can be sure I’ll be talking to the good Reverend Okoth today. I personally need to know more about this Dominion project.

Rev, please flash me sometimes today.

Courage,
Oduor Maurice

From: okil@ . . .
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 06:20:24 +0000
Subject: Should FBI investigate the diaspora on the attempt to kill anAmerica investor in Siaya-County?

Ndebele,

I was inclined to ignore this since I come from Alego-Usonga and I am aware of the endless intrigues involving Dominion/Siaya councillors/the local community! In the incident you are refering to, I suspect you are being unnecessarily alarmist! There may have been a violent misunderstanding, but I doubt that the area councillor would be so dim witted as to organise a murder gang against the American and still have the chutzpah to be part of the same gang! Councillor Otieno Oriaro is a lot more intelligent than that! Or are you into some cheap politics here?! Which part of Alego-Usonga do you come from?! And was this “murder” raid during the day or night?! Finally, you are without a sense of proportion and even logic; in fact you are tactlessly trying to play to the gallery! Why, tell me, would you want to involve some FBI and the diaspora?! Last time I checked, Kenya had her own sleuths and the diaspora was not part of Alego-Usonga!

Nyamodi Ochieng-Nyamogo-

From: ndebele okoth
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:33:17 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Should FBI investigate the diaspora on the attempt to kill an America investor in Siaya-County?

http://blog.jaluo.com/?p=22889

Kenya: Dominion Farms YALA SCHEME

from ndedavit06@ . . .

Dear all,

There has been an attempt on the life of the CEO of Dominion farms Mr Calvin Burgess and both the US Government and the Embassy have taken a very strong view on the matter. Infact the embassy dispatched its representative down to the lake region for fact finding immediately.

[ . . . ]

Kenya: Yala swamp was bought at a cost of 2 dollars per hecka per year …. Dhulma …..!!!

Leave a reply

From: Judy Miriga

Folks,

This does not make sense …… Dominion Farm was fronted through political corrupt special interests and it should therefore renegotiate to incorporate realistic Local community concerns and interests……The deal here was not by any standards fair…..

Cheers …..!!!!

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Siaya Women Chart Way Forward

Women from Siaya District have pledged to form working committees at various levels with a view of ensuring that women participation in peace and development is enhanced.

This was agreed at a meeting dubbed, “Women in Development” which was held at Ugunja Home Ground Resort. The meeting also noted that there is a need to develop and implement women empowerment programmes at various levels with a view of capacity building them.

The meeting comes just when the situation begins to stabilize following the post election violence which rocked the country. During the meeting, it was noted that women felt the brunt of the violence though their participation was minimal.

The meeting resolved that “women should not play a second place, but should in future take early precautionary measures for such calamities by taking the leadership.

Dominion Farms should leave YALA swamp or renogotiate
April 1, 2008 by toiyoi

According to the standard,

“The Dominion Group of Companies has threatened to close a rice farming investment in Siaya District and move to a neighbouring country.

Mr Calvin Burges, the president of the US company, said he was fed up by intimidation and extortion by politicians and residents.”

Good riddance. I think he should leave. Or renegotiate. Why?

(i) There is no worthwhile economic benefit to the people of Bondo/Siaya at all

-these people are not shareholders of Dominion, so Dominion’ s success is not their success

-Dominion’s products are for export (rice and the fish )

-purchasing of the oranges, rice and fish from the Farm is not subsidized to them (as expected)

(ii) The environment will no doubt be affected by the chemicals and pesticides Dominion uses in the farm

-who will clean up after Dominion? Dominion never cleans up, even in America ( Operating as Cimarron Pork Inc, they left a pig mess in OK, USA. In USA, Calvin Burgess builds Prisons, not rice Farms )

-the resulting adverse health on the “already poor and unhealthy people” will be multiplied

(iii) There is no technology/knowledge transfer

-as with most projects of these types in Africa, there is no useful technology and knowledge transfer to the people/kenya

-once Burgess leaves, if at all, the Bondo people won’t be able to recreate Dominion

(iv) Once Dominion’s Fish Farm succeeds, what happens to the local fishermen?

-They will be employed as factory hands in the Dominion Fish plant

-Dominion’ Fish will be cheaper than theirs (being mechanically harvested, etc), so they lose out

The people of Bondo/Siaya ( and their counterparts in Kwale ) should really favor a deal that makes them co-owners. All they need is a mere 25% of the Farm. After all, the inputs,local resource, is theirs. It is true that the technology and know-how is is Dominion’s. But what worth is that technology without the raw materials? I do not think the $$$$ people were being paid to relocate and give up control of their resources was sufficient compensation.

For those who would argue for Dominion, give me reasons why the investment is good for Siaya and Bondo residents.

Kisumu

30th November 2006
DOMINION FARM REVIVE MASSIVE COTTON
PRODUCTION IN YALA SWAMP AND NYANZA
By Leo Odera Omolo

The Dominion Farm Limited, the American owned firm which is currently involved in multibillion shillings rice project at the reclaimed wetlands in Yala Swamp in Siaya is to embark on massive cotton production.

DFL has set aside a total of 150 acres of the reclaimed land for planting cotton. It has considered the lack of sufficient qualities of cotton in the country that may be used in the manufacturing of textile products to feed into AGOA market.

This idea came when the various cotton Ginneries in Kenya have closed down and those still ginning are paying low rates for the raw materials obtained from cotton farmers.

The firm has noted that quality seed are not readily available to the farmers in large quantities and this has a major drawback for Kenya ‘s cotton industry where potential for cotton production in very high.

The DFL has been encouraged to go into cotton seed production, and is currently assisting or working in partnership with the nearby Ndere Cotton Ginnery to upgrade and improve its ginning capacity in order to increase cotton lint production

The previously run-down Ndere Cotton Ginnery is owned by the Siaya District Co-operative Union, but the cotton growers were at a certain point severely discouraged from growing the highly valued crop and abandons it due to delayed or non-payment by the various primary farmers co-operative societies charged with the buying cotton from local farmers.

This trend has now changed drastically since the DFL entered into cotton farming and ginning .The River Yala based firm is purchasing cotton from the farmers on cash payment. It has extended its collections to a far field like Uyoma and Sakwa,Asembo and Yimbo locations in Bondo district and also in both Karemo and Boro Divisions in Siaya district. It has employed additional support staff and workers at the Ndere Ginnery .A kilo of cotton is now fetching 20/- payable in cash money unlike the previous years when payments for cotton delivered by the farmers used to take as long as two years before the payment is effected.

This new trend is expected to encourage larger acreage if high quality cotton in the region and probably further a filed within Nyanza and Western provinces.DFL will then find a market for the cotton lint.

Lake Basin region has a high potential of cotton production .Kenya produced a lot of cotton in the 1950s,1960s,1970s, and 1980s when the cotton industry collapsed .However ,cotton remains an important cash crop in the country and particularly a crop that can boost rural income and alleviate poverty.

Nyanza and Western Provinces are well known for their past record of cotton production particularly in the districts of Busia, Bondo, Siaya, Nyando, Rachuonyo and in the greater region of Southern Nyanza .Despite this fact, Kenya has remained a net importer of cotton from the neighboring countries of Tanzania and Uganda for now close to a decade due to laxity on the parts of people in the higher authorities and policy makers.

The US government has offered a good opportunity for Kenya ‘s textile industry to export cotton textile into the US and yet cotton production in the country is very low.

The objective of the Dominion Farm Limited, a farm in which an American investor Mr. Calvin Burgess has invested close to Kshs 2 billion include development of profitable business and state of the art farm for the African region, poverty reduction through provision of employment and establishment of backward and forward linkages to economic development: increase of crop production for domestic consumption thereby improving food security. Provision of sustainable livelihoods for rural households and provisions of various socio-economic infrastructures in the region.

Other objectives include provision of a locally sustainable supply of cereal grains for consumption by the nation towards self-sufficiency: providing technology transfer to local agriculture and business practices and external capital investment for the government in the rehabilitation and utilization of the high potential Yala Swamp .

DFL is also involved in large scale bee-keeping and the production of top class honey, which is now being sold cheaply to the local community. The honey is laced with anti malarial Artemisia plant and sunflower oil for the protection of the consumers against malaria.

The region is prone to malaria epidemics and when this writer visited the DFL the country director Mr.Grahame Vetch had just completed the distribution of mosquito nets to the local community .A total of 8490 mosquito nets were issued freely to families living within the Yala Swamp and its environs.

About 267 mosquito nets were distributed to families living in Aduwa villages on the Yimbo side of River Yala in Usigu division Bondo district .Another 2670 nets were issued to families living in Bar Olengo villages, 2200 to villagers in Ratuoro and 950 to the Villages in Obambo area. This is part of the DFL good gestures for good community public relations exercise.

DFL has established 160 beehives at Sigulu Hills for the production of honey for which Yala Swamp and its environs have high potential .Already over 150 of these beehives are colonized. A honey processing plant has been established and the firm.

About 470 beehives have been prepared and ready for distribution to the out-growers at an affordable price of Kshs 4,000/-each and it is expected that within the next three years the production of honey at the firm will be the highest in the country.

ENDS

leooderaomolo@ . . .

The writer is LUOCOME REPORTER based in Kisumu. We urge all LUOCOME members with pressing issues pertaining to media and press releases to kindly contact him from any where in world. He will assist you to get true picture of your Village Developement.
LUOCOME-MEDIA

Jaluo.com,

What do you say on this?

It is interesting that Dominion Foods Ltd, has given notice to quit. This is to whoever signed lease with them their terms of acquring Yala Swamp.

It is equally shocking that this company was awarded 3,700 hectares of wetland around the tributary of River Yala at a price of Kshs.1,254,782=( one million, two hundred and fifty four, seven hunred and eighty two only) per annum for 25 (twenty five year) with effect from 25-5-2004.

The agreement was signed between County councils of Siaya and Bondo on one part and Dominion Farms Ltd. on the other.

They got the land at a price of Kshs.339/15 per hectare per year or Kshs.137= per acre per year for 25 years.

This is the chapest cost of land in Kenya. Even deserts do not go for all that low.

In a country where land is very valuabe and we kill one another daily for it, why would we give our land freely to foreigners?

This land was given out at a price of USD 2 per acre! fper year or twenty five years a whole generation. This is ridiculous. They must pack up at ealiest and go.Why threaten us on our land?

There are many pepole from that area who have been displaced by internal conflict and this the time to settle them on such prime land.

Presently there is no tangible benefit from this company to the locals. There is no job creation, no infrastucture improvement nor any techniocal capacity transfer.

One wonders who negotiated such prices and for whose benefit.

This is the time for us to be sensitive to our poor by settling them on this land. We fore fathers died for independence to get our land not to give it to foreigners.

Ministry of lands and settlement should investigate such anomalies with a view to settle the internally displaced people from that area on this 3,700 hectares of land.

Felix Owaga Okatch
tel; 254-721-735489

Dominion Domination: The Scandal of Yala Swamp
03/15/2007

By Patrick Ochieng,
Director Ujamaa Center and Chris Owalla, Nyanza Social Forum.

“MPs want ActionAid to keep off”, screams the caption of a story in the East African Standard of January 3, 2006. The story is attributed to MPs Oburu Odinga and Ayiecho Olweny who claim that the NGO is inciting residents of trouble ridden Yala Swamp rice scheme in which American investor Dominion Group of Companies has been embroiled in a tussle with the community over issues of land dispossession.

The MPs vow that they will resist at all costs this bid “to frustrate economic projects in the Nyanza region” “we need organizations that bring solution to our problems and not those bent on killing our initiatives”, they continue. From this report it is now clear that this project is an initiative of Odunga Mamba, a businessman and the two MPs because they claim in the article that the government was the first to thwart the project and that they the three were ready to carry their own cross by inviting investors to turn around the economy of Nyanza. The community they claim had began to enjoy the benefits of the project.

Nyanza has always been a big issue, definitely bigger than all the three leaders and indeed all the politicians and Luo elite who have been championing the cause of this American investment. On this issue of Dominion someone needs to speak up. The truth is being smothered with such abandon and it is this that invites more questions rather than answers.

Following numerous press reports highlighting tensions between the farm and the community and a visit to the farms with a visiting group from Central America in November last year we thought we would be failing in our duty as a social activist and future leaders from the area if we did not take our time to understand the issues surrounding this mega project. So we visited the company and spent a whole day with the country Director and other staff to understand fully the operations of this project. We further spent two days with the communities of Yimbo and Alego to hear their side of the story. We were not able to speak to communities of Busia who also happen to share this ecosystem. After these encounters we posit that we must look at this Dominion coin inside out and back to front.

First Yala swamp is not a luo resource; this is a shared resource of a regional lake and is therefore a wetland that belongs to East Africa. It too is a buffer zone between land use and the lake. It is here too that the lost species of Lake Victoria are found regionally. Yala swamp covers approximately 17,500 ha. that has always been earmarked for reclamation ever since Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners made the first proposal in their study, Kenya Nile Basin Water Resources in 1954-6. Three phases of reclamation and development were identified the first of which was completed after 2,300 ha. had been reclaimed. The second phase was started but work stopped in 1970 due to lack of funds after 7km diversion canal of the Yala River had been constructed, the Lake Kanyaboli retention dyke and a feeder canal had also been put up.

Pollution
The proposed projects are bound to release different effluence and pollution to the environment. Broadly this is envisioned to be in the form of fertilizers, pesticides, invasive species, and effluent from fish factories (processing and meals), noise and pungent smell, waste discharge from machineries. This major component has not been adequately addressed.

Shrines and cultural issues
Part of the swamp has sites which have been traditionally used for spiritual purposes. This is an area that has not been taken into consideration

Social impacts
Dominion farms Ltd has promised to put and/or upgrade health facilities within the two Districts. However, the EIA undertaken by Dominion farms does not address the emergent health issues associated with population growth. The Report is also silent on water borne diseases associated with rice growing and creation of water reservoirs e.g. malaria, typhoid etc This further affects learning, food security and general development of the community. This comes highly with high drop-out, low transition and completion rates in the region; hence achievement of both EFA and Millennium development goals might not be realized.

Even as the Lake Basin development Authority (LBDA) went on to start the reclamation ecologists and zoologists argued that reclaiming the swamp would precipitate unpredictable ecological hazards. Reclamation ecologists predicted would affect the three lakes Kanyaboli, Sare and Nambeyo negatively. Papyrus the swamp’s most dominant plant would disappear, the fate of sitatunga a buck and a bird called gonolek would be unknown. The filtering effect of the swamp of pollutants from Yala River before water is discharged to the lake would be lost and the breeding and nursery grounds for fish and birds would have to go. The fish species mbiru, fulu, kamongo, okoko, nyamami, ningu, fwani, adel and ngege found in these three lakes would all disappear. The people of Siaya, Bondo and Busia who depend on the swamp would be adversely affected. These were the postulations of ecologists’ way back in 1960s to 80s, claims which led the late Hon. Peter Okondo then MP for Busia South (Bunyala) one of the most vociferous proponents of reclamation to argue that “as an economic unit, the swamp is useless; it is a danger to the economy and it takes away land. It is a breeding ground for mosquitoes, vermin and snails. The swamp should be drained to improve the ecology of the area”.

Were Okondo to wake up from his grave he would be shocked that Busia County Council has been excluded from the reclamation project handed over to Dominion since 2003. According to Bondo MP Oburu Odinga Dominion had revolutionized agriculture in the area with new farming techniques, thus improving yields from 5 to 35 bags of maize per acre with 10 bags from each acre being offered to locals. The MP further accuses ActionAid of inciting locals over ‘petty environmental concerns’. NEMA it is reported approved the company’s first environmental impact assessment and is evaluating a second one.

ActionAid is asked to table its successes in Nyanza and compare notes with Plan, Care or Sana who have completed major projects in the region.

What are these petty environmental concerns? Dominion’s EIA to be exact is a scandal. Dominion’s initial license issued in 2004 permitted the company to grow rice on 3,700 ha. leased from Siaya and Bondo County Councils. All of Dominion’s 9 projects are lumped together in the EIA submitted to NEMA each of which falls in the second schedule of the EMCA [58 (i) (4)] as projects for which an independent EIA must be undertaken. The projects therefore lack the kind of detail required before implementation. For example Dominion proposes to construct a fish processing plant, a rice mill, a feed mill, a cotton ginnery, a fuel storage and dispensing station, a dam, barrier dyke, weir and irrigation, a hydro-electric generation plant and agriculture projects for rice, maize, cotton, soya beans, sunflower, artemisia, onion etc.

All these projects need a full and independent EIA. As things stand now the company has gone full throttle to implement most of these proposals without due process. The rice for which license was issued has not even been commenced. There is no socio-economic analysis of these activities. It is in fact disturbing that the professionals who conducted the EIA were employees of LBDA who are closely linked to Dominion. The Environment Management Plan is even more scandalous. It just lists what it calls negative and positive impacts without detailing the strategies for mitigating such impacts.

One expects MPs like Oburu to explain why the company is carrying out activities on swampland beyond the leased area of 3,700 ha. How was the new land acquired? Why is Dominion implementing proposed projects without NEMA license? The EIA does not discuss the compulsory eviction and resettlement arrangements for communities that are being forced to vacate their lands for Ksh. 45, 000 per acre. The EIA report does not discuss the perimeter fence that has been put up by Dominion denying locals easy access to pasture and water. The EIA report does not capture the felling of trees for charcoal and timber by Dominion and how this might be mitigated. The land lease negotiations excluded the communities of Bondo and Siaya; this should have been highlighted in the EIA. The EIA does not capture the fact that local communities are now not allowed to farm lest they contaminate crops grown by Dominion. They now depend on crops donated by Dominion making them more food insecure.

How much area will each crop cover? How much chemicals will be used? How will Dominion deal with the high water demand for their activities? What machines will Dominion use and what will be their impact on the environment and jobs? What pests will the new crops introduce to the area? Why is Dominion retailing crops such as cabbages and onions in the local market at the expense of local vendors? Cotton will require the use of agro-chemicals. These will contaminate Yala River and Lake Victoria through run-off thereby affecting the fish export industry to the EU Market, what is the future of east African fishermen?. Is this not an issue for the EIA? Has the fisheries department permitted dominion to put cages in Lake Kanyaboli? How will the waste generated from the cages be dealt with? The quantity of water to be extracted has not been surveyed and quantified. There are many other issues around fish cages, the rice mill and the ginnery that I leave for another discussion.

On a more important note both Dominion and their EIA ignored Busia. Several fish processing plants in Kisumu are operating at less than half their capacity due to low fish supply. Why should Dominion build another one in Yala swamp? Bondo fishmeal plant less than 50 km away is having problems getting raw materials. What would be the economic viability of building another one at the swamp? LBDA’s rice milling plant in Kibos is grossly underutilized, what is the need of a new one? Ndere cotton ginnery exists; why not use it instead of building a new one?

According to the Country Director Grahame Vetch, his personal assistant Joyce Awino Opondo and the environment officer a Mr.Enos Were, Dominion will contribute massive proteins to the community; employment and a five fold salary multiplier effect for each employee. Poverty will be alleviated for at least 20% in the area and it was gratifying to the company that the market from Siaya had moved to the company’s gates. The company has 240 employees and 1000 casuals on piece rates. Beekeeping and handmade paper were other ventures the company was engaging in.

Without prejudice to part (xxii) of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Company and Siaya and Bondo County Councils on the 20th of May 2003 which provides: “this document and all related documents shall be confidential as between the parties hereto so far permitted by the laws of the Republic of Kenya and shall not be released to any other person without the first express written consent of others”, what is Ksh. 1,254,782 per annum for year 1-3 shared on an 86%: 14% basis between Siaya and Bondo Councils respectively for the gazetted area and a further Shs. 1,085,218 for the additional area for the same years on the same portion?

Can this deal with the poverty in Nyanza? And what will happen after the 45 years of this Dominion domination? Even when the Director confirms that they have put together a paper to the Ministry of Health asking them to sanction the use of diluted DDT a banned chemical worldwide to eradicate malaria should we not be worried? When pedestrians from Kadenge to Yimbo cannot use the walkway beyond 6.30pm what is that but slavery? This project stinks. The state in Kenya must stop seeing natural resources only as instruments towards the agenda of industrial growth and economic development or sources of revenue. The Yala Swamp project is an undeclared emergency for which we must all rise if we care.

Over 300 homesteads in Siaya and Bondo districts with a human population of more than 4,500 will be displaced by the dam/water reservoir that is being constructed by the Dominion Farms Limited. Many more people will be affected because river Yala and Lake Kanyaboli is their source of water and livelihood. The manner in which this exercise is being carried out violates tenets of basic human rights because affected people are not being consulted. Instead, they are being forced into selling their ancestral land at a throw-away price. Of the more than 300 homesteads 200 homesteads in Siaya have refused to sign the contract while the more than 40 individuals of the 95 homesteads in Bondo district have done so under pressure

However, we are also concern with forceful eviction of communities from there ancestral land by Dominion Farms Limited and the use of police to have members who have resisted the eviction charged in the court of law, its saddening that police have even prefers charges ranging from incitement to violence to robbery with violence, and so far police in Usenge is in the process of releasing 48 warrants of arrest to members of the community in Yimbo Bondo District in addition to already two community members whose cases is already in Bondo Law court.

ActionAid and others must be supported to expose the excesses of capital. It is on this basis that we in the civil society wish to consolidate our collective effort with like-minded institutions to champion the cause of communities that have been abandoned to their destinies by our greedy and selfish leadership.

KENYA: NAKURU COUNTY AND LAND CRISIS

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from ouko joachim omolo

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAKURU-KENYA
MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2011
NAKURU WORKSHOP TAKE-5

Blessed John Paul II Evangelizing Parish Teams concluded its annual national workshop here in Nakuru with a hot debate on land crisis and grabbing in Kenya. Apart from land crisis, Nakuru County is considered a political hot bed considering its past experiences of ethnic tensions.

The county is in Rift Valley covering six constituencies: Nakuru Town, Subukia, Molo, Naivasha, Rongai and Kuresoi. Although Nakuru County is cosmopolitan with members of other ethnic communities like Luhya, Gusii, Luo, Kamba, Maasai, and Turkana also having permanent residences in the region, members of the Kikuyu ethnic community are the majority.

Practically all the constituencies in the region are manned by members of the Gikuyu communities even as a matter of fact Nakuru could be strictly owned by Kalenjin communities. John Mututho is the MP for Naivasha, Joseph Kiuna (Molo), Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru Town), and Nelson Gaichuhie (Subukia).

When chaos erupted in the Rift Valley shortly after the controversial 2007 Presidential vote tally, the land question became the bone of contention. Kalenjins believe the Kikuyu’s in the rift valley stole their ancestral land from them, that is why whenever there is electoral violence the Kikuyus are the main target in Rift Valley.

The Kalenjins believe that when the Kikuyu’s leave, that land will then be re-distributed to them for free. It explains why the 2007 electoral violence Kikuyus in the Rift Valley were the target. In Eldoret alone 15 people Kikuyus were burned to death as they were seeking refuge in a church.

William Samoei Arap Ruto has been alleged by ICC as the man behind Eldoret killings. Ruto is believed to be a Kipsigis whose father had sold off their family land and migrated to Eldoret, a Nandi-occupied area in Uasin Gishu.

In Nakuru County, Kuresoi remains the most volatile area. Apart from Kikuyu communities others who live in Kuresoi are Luos, Kisiis, and luhyas among others. They have been nicknamed ‘madowa dowa’ (spots) unwanted by the Kalenjin who are the natives there.

In Rongai alone the Kenyatta family owns 1,171 acres at Gicheha farm. The Kenyatta Government has always been accused of grabbing land, not only in Nakuru and other regions in the Rift Valley but also almost every region in Kenya.

It explains why the land problem was compounded by politicians who failed to make right land policies to correct the wrongs inherited from colonialists and escalated by the Kenyatta Government.

It confirms the BBC interview where Uhuru Kenyatta was asked if he would support the proposed land reforms in Kenya being the son of the first President. Even though his answer was yes, he declined to declare how much he owns, saying: “That is not a question I will answer. It is not that I don’t want to tell you; it is only that I do not need to tell you. I don’t need to sit on a BBC (interview) and say this is what I have or don’t have.”

It explains further why Kenya has not had a single and clearly defined National Land Policy since independence. It again explains why May 2007 draft National Land Policy published following widespread participation of stakeholders and the policy presented before Parliament of approval in 2009 never materialized.

That is also why according to the commission of inquiry chaired by Mr Paul Ndung’u, which was also known as the Ndung’u commission, recommendation that the government should repossess all illegally acquired land has never been implemented.

In Nakuru, several politically connected individuals have acquired many acres of prime land within the town alone- they include lawyer Mutula Kilonzo, who owns an 800-acre farm for dairy farming. The immediate former Auditor General, D. G. Njoroge, owns 500 acres, while Biwott’s Canadian son-in-law & coowner of Safaricom (Mobitelea) a Mr. Charles Field-Marsham, a 100- acre piece where he is growing roses.

In Molo the former powerful minister in Kiaki government, Njenga Karume owns 20,000 acres where he is growing tea, coffee, pyrethrum and potatoes and 16,000 acres in Naivasha.

Historically the land related ethnic clashes in the Rift Valley Province started on October 29, 1991, at a farm known as Miteitei, situated in the heart of Tindreret Division, in Nandi District, pitting the Nandi against the Kikuyu, Kamba, Luhya, Kisii and the Luo.

Later in early 1992, the clashes spread to Molo, Olenguene, Londiani and other parts of Kericho, Trans Nzoia, Uashin Gishu and many other parts of Rift Valley. In 993 the clashes spread to Enoosupukia, Naivashs and parts of Narok and the Trans Mara Districts which together then formed the greater Narok before the Trans-Mara was hived out of it, and to Gucha District in Nyanza Province.

In These areas the Kipsigis and the Maasai were pitted against the Kikuyu, the Kisii, Kamba, Luhya among other ethnic communities. These clashes according to Akiwumi report revived in Laikipia and Njoro in 1998, pitting the Samburu. In each clash area, non-Kalenjin or Maasai were attacked.

The causes of clashes have been given as conflict over land, cattle rustling and political differences based on ethnic and parties. In Rift Valley it was between Moi-Kanu and Kibaki-DP parties.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

Kenya & Uganda: Tension remained high on the disputed Migingo Island despite assurances by both Kenya and Uganda authorities that the issue will be resolved soon.

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Sori-Karungu Bay.

Tension has eased out on Migingo and the twin islands of Ugingo in Lake Victoria following the announcement by in both Nairobi and Kampala that top security chiefs are scheduled to me in the Uganda capital on Monday to discuss security matters.

A contingent of Kenyan administration policemen landed on Migingo last Monday raising tension as it appeared that he move caught heir Ugandan counterparts unaware or their impending arrival or it was a case of total breakdown in communication between the Ugandan marine policemen who have been manning the island ever since 2004 and their bosses in Kampala.

Unconfirmed reports says some of the Ugandan policemen on seeing their Kenyan counterparts motor boat approaching the island had cocked heir guns in readiness to open for ,but were reportedly restrained by seniors.

After surveying Migingo, the Kenyan security personnel fond the island too congested and could no find enough space to erect tents. They moved on Ugingo Island which is only 100 meters away and pinched their tents.

It is also untrue that Kenyan policemen were frisked of their firearms and disarmed by Ugandan counterparts as was reported by a section of the press. The two groups did not come into direct contact and therefore no confrontation of any sorts took place.

It was the question of accommodation for the Kenyan policemen on he densely populated Migingo that forced them to set their camp at the nearby Ugingo, which is situated only 100 meters away, with enough space for accommodation for 40 or more Kenyans.

On Thursday news came over various FM vernacular stations that the Kenyan Police Commissioner Matthews Iteere will travel to the Uganda capital, Kampala where he will meet his counter part Maj-Generl Sale Kayhihura to discuss and fine tune f the logistics of joint patrolling work by the two sides.

The deployment of Kenyan security personnel o the disputed island was among he resolution passed at a special committee meeting held in Nairobi last month which was attended by Kenyan and Ugandan Ministers.

Kenyan fishermen and traders living on the island said the move was most welcome. They praised President Kibaki and his Ugandan counterpart President Yoweri Museveni and urged the two to find a quick solution so that tension between the two countries could be fizzled out.

Nyatike MP Edick Omondi Anyanga told this writer the patience of his people was running out. The two countries should work out the mode of taxation and levies paid by fishermen and those involved in fish trade. The two governments must agree on as to who should receive taxes and levies on fish catches currently enjoyed by Uganda.

Nyatike constituency has the largest shoreline stretching from Lak-Nyiero on the border of Nyatike and Gwassi districts through Sori to Luanda, Ndiwa, Angugo on to Muhuru-Bay on the border of Kenya and Tanzania. It is a distance of about 50 kilometers. Most of the Kenyan fishermen living on Migingo hail from Nyatike and the area legislator has a strong belief that a last solution would be found.

The fishermen, however, have expressed fears that Uganda appeared to be content on holding on the twin islands for their economic viability.

Ends

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Kenya & Uganda: Tension remained high on the disputed Migingo Island despite assurances by both Kenya and Uganda authorities that the issue will be resolved soon.