For many years, the British Army (BA) has been using the land in Samburu East (SE) for their training operations. For a couple of years ago, the locals resorted into demonstrations at Archer’s Post in Waso Division after being fed-up for being paid peanuts and inhumanly by the BA for the work they were doing at the BA’s training camp like for example washing clothes and general cleaning. Now, were the BA aware of this inhuman act, or there were proxies that curtailed the rights from the locals?
Furthermore, the question that lingers in many minds of the local residents is that-why should the BA continue to pay monies directly to the Kenyan Government; Central Government, rather than formulating or devolving a mechanism for the locals in SE to be the real beneficiaries of their own land now that we have a new constitution? One local resident from Archer’s post was once quoted saying that this issue can’t be buried into the sand, and that justice will one day resurface.
More over, in 2003 according to the report by the BBC, hundreds of Kenyan tribeswomen who say they were raped by UK soldiers were granted British legal aid to sue the Ministry of Defense. If so, how far did this go since then, yet many are unaware and still wondering when justice will prevail for the traumatized local samburu women?
The residents of Archer’s Post in Waso division; which is in Samburu East Constituency (SEC), popularly known for their fierce fight for compensation from the BA for injuries caused by ordinances (cluster bombs) left in their area and alleged raping of their women by the foreign soldiers are yet in another struggle to reclaim the ownership of army vast training land at a place called losesia and Sira which is under Losesia Group Ranch.
I personally view that the unexploded cluster bombs that are left after irresponsibly training anyhow is a reckless behavior at the expense of many local lives who are unaware of what even a bomb is, in the first place. Despite the issue having been sketchily addressed in the past, this issue needs to be addressed well so as to avert the possibilities of more loss of local innocent lives again in the near future. Or else, the BA should just pack their bags and train elsewhere.
There is an anxiety currently growing among the Archer’s Post inhabitants this time strongly with the wish wanting the Kenyan Government through the ministry of land headed by Honorable Orengo to clarify how and when their land currently used by BA and the foreign troops for their training was transformed to be owned by the army without notice. And if the Losesia Group members are uninformed, then this constitutional rights’ issue needs to be addressed and left to rest for once and for all.
In 2003-2004 through citizen news media, the Samburu community elders who are the members of the Losesia Group Ranch claimed that they were in a possession of maps used by BA troops which indicated that the entire Waso Divison which has well over 10,000 inhabitants is a military. The area consists of four locations/sub-locations of learata, losesia, laresoro and Archer’s Post. The community elders alleges that a large portion of land used by the army personnel is a community land after declaration by the lands and settlement department as East Waso adjudication section in 1981, in a letter dated September 23, in the same year. Further evidences revealed by the local elders shows that by then; while the adjudication registers were opened, 1800 members were registered as the legitimate owners of the vast land.
There are complaints that the military has been encroaching on the vast land meant for grazing space for the pastoralist communities in SE despite having 90,000 acres of land being set aside for training range, which they are urging for re-gazettement. This encroachment especially during the dry seasons triggers the locals to migrate to the neighboring communities in such of pasture which sometimes results to the chronic problem of cattle rustling yet they have a vast land.
The pastoralists’ elders said in a meeting held at Achers Post town once said that they had been pressurized to give out their land as they did with Samburu National Reserve and fear they could be rendered squatters on their own land soon again. However this year; 2011 around March-April likewise too, a parliamentary lands committee was dispatched from Nairobi to help in coming up with a solution to this problem. Now, how far did this went, and was it really fruitful?
The residents of Archer’s Post are therefore now appealing to the minister of land to launch an investigation and resolve the oownerships problem before the innocent locals are driven out of their own native land. The community elders are even accusing now their leaders of having failed them for decades instead of assisting them to protect their land rights.
They said that the leaders ought to lead them in establishing if the Samburu County Council colluded or was also up to curve out some more land meant for SIRA wildlife conservancy in the area and called upon the government to address the land ownership issue before it gets out of hand as they would not allow any further sub-division for development at the expense of their future lives and children.
This community has undergone several challenges, and once won a compensation case worth million of shillings to pay damages to the locals maimed in ordnance explosions in the training area. The community claim that it can hire services of a renown international lawyer to assist them pursue the land ownership and have those encroaching or fiddling with their land rights to account for it. The persistent problem is attributed to the elected leaders’ failure to demonstrate leadership.
The author of the article is Lesiamito Malino John, from Oslo, Norway. The author is a postgraduate student in Information Systems and Computing, and can be reached on Lesiamito@gmail.com
African Press International (API) 