WE DEMAND OUR FOREFATHERS LANDS

To some of my tribesmen in Kenya and abroad, I might be seen as a trouble maker, hash and out of reality.  No wonder, whenever we the ordinary people demand to know the truth, the self styled land grabber politicians turn around and point to us imaginary enemies: the kikuyus, the kalenjins, the Masaai, the Luhya, Kisii, the Luo, Mijikenda and so on.It is a sick political game. Looking at this political game it is like when one gets robbed in Nairobi streets, and runs after the thief, the thief himself shouts thief! thief! while pointing to the wrong direction and sometimes the accomplices of the robber shout thief pointing to the robbed. Many are the times the robbed get hurt and ends up being twice the victim, often locked up by police as the culprit or just get killed by the usually blood thirsty street mobs.When all is quiet again the thief and his gang share the loot as police officers look on, sometimes getting kickbacks from the loot. Utumishi kwa wote.To me as is to many other observant Kenyans, the reality of the causes of our land problems are not about to end just because Kibaki and Raila share power or now finds time to even play golf together and enjoy huge motorcades paid up by me and you.The hate and animosity among kenyan communities will not end by making Mudavadi or Karua a deputy PM or creating many ministries to appease tribal chiefs out to protect and share loot from past or coming stinking public money scandals. Land injustices will not go away just because a truth and justice commission will be overseen by those in parliament. The South African one just helped the Boars to keep their loot and entrenched themselves in powerful state offices. The so-called freed South Africans could just look at the “helpless” Mandela, who could not use his office to give them back their lands or improve their lifestyles.Well, the Boars are strong economically as they were before, while Africans remain as poor and angry as they were before political independence was negotiated.  Hence, South African cities being the most dangerous places to be in independent Africa.Well, from our end, the ordinary wananchi, we have just mutated into remote controlled political robots driven by selfish and scheming politicians out there. These politicians are keeping us poor and busy on each others throat, having no time to question what went so wrong that we have become just like wild animals in a jungle called Kenya. Partly, we have been made so by scheming imperialistic leaders and our self-proclaimed tribal chiefs via their propaganda information machines, deviating our attention from themselves, the real culprits of our economic land problems.I think time has come to change goal posts and our style of politicking. If we can’t tell the truth to the world about what is actually eating us up, we need to tell ourselves the truth and the truth only. Starting with the hard questions, for example:What happened to all Kenyan communities’ lands before and after independence? Why were thousands of Kikuyus pushed to other communities forefathers’ lands?What happened to these Kikuyu’s forefathers’ lands? As is with the rest of Kenyans, before the whites colonized Kenya, the Kikuyus had lands which was taken away by the British. Otherwise, what land were the Kikuyus fighting for? Like did ANC of Mandela, the colonizer negotiated independence with Kenyatta secretly, before the white accepted grating Kenyans their political freedom. That could have been ok, but, what happened to the land his community the Kikuyus fought for? Why did other communities suffer almost same fate as Kikuyus after hundreds of acres of their forefathers’ lands were mostly shared by a few rich individuals from their communities’ in Kenyatta government? And as if taking thousands of acres of other communities was not enough, Kenyatta pushed poor Kikuyus into other communities forefathers’lands now turned death fields.Yes we respect property rights but that does not exclude our rights to own part of our forefathers’ lands. The culprits say they bought the lands and have title deeds. But, where were those title deeds when our parents and their grandparents went to the bush to demand back their lands? Where were these luck land owners before independence? Saying they bought the lands, can they tell us from who? The whites? Whose government? Kenyatta’s government? Moi’s? Lets ask them! The future of this country is at a greater risk if we the ordinary people fail to look at the other direction which politicians are not pointing at – themselves.Instead of letting these power and wealth hungry politicians keep using us as pawns in their land protection, wealth and power games, let us now question them about everything that is wrong, and demand our right to lands of our forefathers.I admit, the demand of having our share of our forefathers’ lands will not be an easy task. The rich land owners and their henchmen in power will start accusing as to have turned  Mugabes and ask the whites not to listen to us. We know it is not easy neither safe, but, how  and when do we get back our forefathers’ land rights if not by calling for a major land redistribution? This is the reality on the ground regardless of what our enemies say. Let us start by demanding to have back our lands as they were before 1963. It seems as if White lions were replaced by Black lions that made sure the economic interests of white lions continued to prosper under the care of Black Lions. Black lions led by Kenyatta and later by Moi made Kenya what it is today. The wonder is that all kenyan communities are represented in this Black Lions political and economical club.We all should play a different political game now. In fact we in Kenya need not look very far from where we stand in any corner of Kenya to know how much was taken from us. We all know where the lands are and who is sitting on them! They are all death merchants out to kill anyone about to question land distribution. JM died for this very reason. Robert Ouko’s death and the land where Molases plant in Kisumu stands could be part of the why he had to die. The problem is not your poor, toiling like you, neighbor from Kiambu owning 2 acres of land in Eldoret or Narok or Gucha, in Lamu, Taita, Likoni or Transzoia or Muhuroni.The problem is –  all those who took hundreds and thousands of acres for themselves and their relatives, their henchmen from the provincial administration, army, security forces, and their former colonial masters. They know that we know what went wrong and that: we one day shall demand the righting of the wrongs they inflicted upon the poor of this nation. This is – no matter how long it takes it will be done anyway.As we demand this justice, the displaced Kikuyus, who had not gotten their forefathers’ lands share and willingly sold it away, should refuse to be re-settled back to the lands belonging to other communities, and instead start seriously demanding to be resettled in their forefathers Kikuyu lands, where they owned land before the wazungu came. The Kissi, the masai the Luhya, the Boran, the Pokot and others should also do likewise. Meanwhile the killings of the poor peasants living among other communities should be stopped and never to return. Also, not to be part of the problem those who willingly sold their lands in Kikuyu land, Kalenjin land and elsewhere later after independence should stop disguising themselves as genuine land owners. It appears the mayhem after the elections have been shelved. The Kalenjins should take this chance to re-focus their thinking and look at the thousands of acres of land their own community politicians. Lands that belonged to them, lands they as a community did not sell to them.Meanwhile, as ordinary wananchi ponder which way and means to right the wrongs of land distribution, ordinary Kenyans should stop the killings and evictions of innocent poor people, who also happen to be victims of land injustices.It is time we  all reject tribal incitements from all those politicians who misled and continue to mislead the nation by looting land and other national resources. When we demand justice, we ordinary Kenyans  should have in mind that we must get justice done in practical ways and in good time.You want the truth? the above is just part of the reality. You want to assist end land clashes and mayhem? Wherever you are if you are not part of the problem tell wananchi and yourself the reality: that things can be even worse than they are if today’s politicians  continues to evade and misdirect the land problems.

You want to say this is Majimbo thinking? Call it what you like, but whatever you say will not change the truth.