The people of Laikipia are prepared to receive the President of Kenya in Mukogodo division on the 29th of may 2007.
Posted by African Press International on May 26, 2007
It will be extremely awkward for the political leaders particularly those of the Maasai people since they will not be able to show any kind of Development that they have contributed to the society, with the community development funds provided annually. The president will realize that either there is no community Development funds for Mukogodo division or the money has been mismanaged.
The dusty road shall be be swept and the women shall sing along with young emaciated Mukogodo frustrated youth, in despair and with hope that the president shall save their day with a meal or two. This women and young people do not need a meal or two, neither do they need free drinks for a day, they are not going to be tranquilized with mere lies and empty promises, we have gone through it and we have been cheated and misguided before by our former politicians. All what we need is a proper redress, we demand that the government takes her responsibilities not to feed us with relief food, but to give as land. Our people are undergoing transformation thus the need for resources, smart strategies and descent ways of confronting conflicts.
In collaboration with the people of Mukogodo, I take this moment to personally attract the attention of the president while in preparation for the rough, dangerous and uncertain journey- destination Mukogodo reserve. The president will certainly drive in a 4 wheal drive but despite the stability of the president’s car, it is with quarantee that the road to either kipsing, Kimanjo, Ewuaso or Sieku will l give the hon. Kibaki maximum discomfort.
Issues of paramount importance for us is obvious to any reasonable person. We need Food Mr. President! We need our own land SIr! When you leave Nyeri, the place of your origin, Please look around carefully to both sides of the road (left and right), untill you come to Dol dol or Il polei. All what you will see is 12 m long fences along both sides of the road only leaving about 20 m wide for the rad. You will feel so ashemed because those tall fences will give you an intimidating feeling like it does to Ol Kaparo. He however chooses to fly instead from Nayuki to Dol dol by private jet from the neighblouring settlers.
You will see well kept grazing lands and gigantic private wildlife sanctuaries. You will definatelly see some Maasai children sitting by the road. It is the responsibility of the president stop any form of exploitation or discrimination by anybody on any person or group of people whatsoever.
It is not because of their life style that you will see many of the Maasai children naked or half naked It is because of poverty! We are asking for your attention since we have waited for all other communities to enjoy the fruits of independence but us.
others would propably run after your vehicles in the movie “The gods must be crazy!” They will propably ask for money in a manner like”give me a mane” but this prhase is mostly directed to the whites-the military(British,sometimes americanand frensh) when they train in the area.
Those neighbouring ranches are the product of colonial rule. We had hopes that when you take control over the situation, you will be able to formulate a solution to these menece. You have up to date not done it therefore we are wondering if the president doesn’t see land issue as a problem or is it simply being ignored because it is not affecting you? Kenya will for sure not like to have a Zimbambwe like case in Kenya do we?
Our people are exploited by the neighbouring settlers through the so called eco tourism! The haveinvite tourist to the cultural manyatta and guide them as eve they own the society. We appear as if we are themost stupid people in the universe. we do exactly what those settlers say. This is because our people are poorly or not educated at all. The local leaders are somehow educated, but look at them, they are all reach! How do they become reachidepending on a Kenyan civil servant salary? I have always wondered. Obviously, many of them are corrupted by the settlers just like they did with Lenana. They want to take the remaining barren land we we collectivelly own as community. They want to squeeze us so disappear from the area or die. The president must find a solution to this problem.The kland owners sorrounding Mukogodo are acquiring more land like Ol Maalo concervancy in Il polei, Sieku, Lentile and many others. This land grabbing is nnot justifiable thus we take the local chiefs
andresponsible for allowing it to happen once again. We need more land for our survival and not the opposite.
We are , and have always been friendly to the wildlife infact that is why we have been able to co exist since time immemorial. The Maasai do not even eat wild meat neither do we any longer kill lions fore ceremonial reasons. We protect them but we do not have to over do things like we have domne in Kenya where the live of a lion or any other animal is more valuable that the life of Maasai people. When a lion kills a Maasai man, the lion will go free but in the old days, the Maasaia warriors will for sure eliminate the lion because once he has tested bloof of a human being, he will keep on coming for more. When a a Maasai warriror kills a lion, the police of Kenya, anti stock theft unit and the wildlife rangers and sometimes the army will be send to root out that person and any other male companion in the neighbourhood. When Maasi people find a dead lion in the bush, they will ensure that they disappear from the area as far as they can, to avoid the high risk of being tortured to
death by the serikali gays.
Everybody seams to kick,slap and spit on the Maasai due to our ignorance.
Our leaders like Ole Kaparo, the speaker of the national assembly are not interested in helping us and so are political leaders from other societies. We have remained behind in terms of developement and our people are paying dearly for it. HIV/AIDS is in our community killing our brothers and sister while the rest of the world is watching us disappear. If the president is not going to do anything to protect the Maasai people from both hunger STI and HIV/ virus, then we will soon be without the Maasai tribe on earth.
We will for sure mornitor every step you and other politicians are going to take in approaching the political, social cultural problem of the Maasai people.
And above all, I wish you a wonderful adventurous journy to Mukogodo reserve hoping that it will see reality and we beg you not to be deceived byanybody with the intion to lur you away from reality. It is time for us to face reality and work with it in a modern civilized way.
By A Mukogodo Reserve member(Il polei location) in Sweden
Published by African Press in Norway /African Press International, africanpress@chello.no
