KENYA’S LOST TRIBE AND MARGINALISED FOREST DWELLERS NOW WANT OFFICIAL RECOGNITION LIKE ANY OTHER COMMUNITIES WITH NATIONAL TAG AND IDENTITY.

Special Feature By Leo Odera Omolo

Nearly 47 years after Kenya gained her political independence from Great Britain in 1963,the Ogiek and Sengwer forest dwellers and gatherers are still entangled in a fight for official recognition.

The two communities, commonly known as “Ndorobos” for their skills in forest dwelling, hunting and honey gathering are now ressing the demand to be given community tag or tribal codes used by the government of Kenya to recognize the country’s ethnic groups comprising of 42 different tribes.

Presently, they have to suffer the ignominy of identifying themselves as either the Pokots, Nandis, Keiyos, Kiposigis and Tugens orany larger Kalenjin sub-tribes that surrounded them when they are applying for the country’s national identity cards or travelling documents such as passports.

Although they speak concocted Kalenjin dialects depending on their neighbor as their first language, both communities do not consider themselves as members of the larger ethnic Kalenjin groups.

Historians say the Ogiek were the original inhabitants of the Central Rift Valley leading to a general feeling that only the community can at least claim to be the Aboriginal East Africans since there is no evidence of them having come from elsewhere. Perhaps they were the first people to settle in the country highlands followed by the fiercest Maasai..

However, their unique linguistic ability to adopt the languages of the surrounding tribes led some historians to conclude that they, were not a genuinely distinct ethnic group but rather outlaws from other tribes who found refuge in the forest, and as such cannot be classified as “Bush Men” like those people found in Kalahari Desert in Botswana/Namibia in Southern Africa.

The last two of Kenya’s forest dwelling aboriginal communities are facing government’s move to evic them from their natural habitat.

Members of the Ogiek and Sengwer ethnic groups are facing displacement from, the gazette forests reserves located in various parts of Rift Valley Province and to a les extent Western Province., in areas which they consider part of their ancestral homes..

The Ogiek inhabits the controversial Mau Forest Complex, which is already declared as one of the most important water catchment in the country and some parts of Mt. Elgon in Western Province, while the Sengwer, also known as Cherangany or Kimaala are currently distributed in Trans-Nzoia, Marakwet,Baringo east and Koibatek as well as in West Pokot districts.

Traditionally, the two communities are hunters and gatherers and have long been considered as guardians and protectors of the forests.But their lifestyle, or atleast whatremains of it, are about to change drastically and forever duye to conservation efforts.

The government of Kenya says the two communities have now changes their modes of living to commercial agriculture and are now posing a great risk to the forest and water catchment areas, which their ancestors once fought hard to conserve.

The plight of Sengwer and Ogiek communities, facing eviction from their forest homes, once again casts the spotlights on the issue of land reforms in Kenya.

The genesis of their plight is traced to the British colonialists desire for agricultural land.

The two communities like their cousins the Kipsigis, the Nandis , Keiyos and Tugens once inhabited fertile lands, which the white settlers designated as “The White Highlands” These regions were found by the arriving white settlers to be ideal for growing cash crops such as tea, coffee, dairy cattle and for large scale food crops farming..

The colonialists with the backing of British troops, local colonial police force and their surrogate local chiefs, rounded up the locals and herded the communities into semi-arid reserves land and turned their lands into large scale plantations..

“However, the Ogiek and Sengwer were ignored and viewed as useless, unproductive since they did not have a history of plant cultivation.”, according to a young Sengwer lawyer, Mr. Onesmus Kipchumba.

It is form this reason that in 1913 the colonial government struck an agreement with the Sengwer community that allowed them forests to live to open spaces within their forests. They were also given grazing permits for their cattle, says Marakwet East MP Jebii Kilimo .

Information obtained from archives show the Oiek was first targeted in 19o3 by the British. The first movement of the Ogiek occurred in 1908 when they were removed from their homes near Lake Nakuru to Olare area in Mau Forest…

Another process in which both communities lost their was through the declaration, they rendered squatters overnight, liable for prosecution for trespassing their own land..

The Kenya Land Commission of 1939, which was known as the Carter Commission, recommended be evicted from all the forests and be concentrated on either the European farms as squatters or in forestry department labor camps.

The Ogiek were later moved into tribal reserves of other communities, especially the Nandis,kipsigis and Maasai.The objective behind this was to assimilate the two communities into the larger ones. This also proved impractical since the Ogiek immediately abandoned the reserves and went back to the forest, their natural habitat where they lived as squatters. In fact there is a place in Belgut, Kericho district which is called Kapogiek, meaning the home of the Ogiek up now,. The village is located along the Kericho Kisumu road a few kilometers before Kaitui Marke

Mr.J.K.Towett of the Ogiek Welfare Association are currently busy loving hard for the two communities to be recognize
The Luo-Abasuba another minority group The were given their own district and even their vernacular languages included in local government broadcasting system based in Kisumu. The Ogiek and Sengwer could win the same battle, but unfortunately they are scattered allover the expansive Rift Valley Province, unlike the Luoi-Abasuba …

The community , however, blames the retired President Daniel Arap Moi for having ignoring their plight during his 24 years reign of power.Moi, gave them some farms in Kuresoiu, Olenguruone and Mau Forest, but these are the people now facing eviction..

They were last moth evicted from the forest in East Marakwet b y a contingent of combined police and army personnel who torched their houses and cleared the area.

The community blames the retired President Daniel Arap Moi, who they accusedf9rhaving ignored their incessant pleas to be accorded national tribal code and identity during his twenty four nears presidency’

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

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Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:03:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: KENYA;S BUSHMEN NOW WANT OFFICIAL
RECOGNITION LIKE ANY OTHER COMMUNITIES