Michael Mundia Kamau
P.O. Box 58972
00200 City Square
Nairobi
Kenya
10th October 2004
KENMOIKIB FARM
The one-week expose on land ownership in Kenya carried
in both “The Standard” and “Sunday Standard” from 1st
to 7th October 2004 was as informative as it was
shocking. For the modest fee of just over US $ 3
spread over seven issues, the Standard Group revealed
information capable of bringing down governments
elsewhere in the world, in what is certainly a thought
provoking expose. It is amazing that after 41 years of
independence we know and control so little of a
country that we claim to be ours. Kenya may longer be
a British colony, but it is certainly not independent
either.
The Kenyatta family is said to own 500,000 acres of
land, about the size of Nyanza province, the Moi
family is said to own over 100,000 acres, and the
Kibaki family is said to own over 30,000 acres,
essentially making Kenya, KenMoiKib Farm, KenMoiKib
being the acronym for Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki. The
family of former minister for lands and settlement,
Eliud Mwamunga, is said to own 70,000 acres in Taita
Taveta district, with former senior government
officials and senior civil servants raking in the
remainder of the spoils.
It is clear that the so-called freedom movement
against British colonial rule, noble as it ever may
have been, was merely a clamour for the ownership and
control of the country’s resources. History will not
only harshly judge the forbearers of the Kenyan
freedom movement, but the citizenry that unhelpfully
stood by, as the country was denigrated once again by
it’s new leaders. The generation of Kenyans born after
independence in 1963 has continually been accused and
reprimanded for ineptitude, immaturity, lack of focus
and lack of drive, which is true to a big extent.
However the pre-independence generation also has
several questions to answer, one of which is what they
were doing or where they were, when the Kenyatta
family was growing it’s land holdings to 500,000
acres? What is the difference between the Kenyatta
family and the much detested former owner of the Taita
Taveta district, Col. Ewart Grogan ? Does Col Grogan
stand accused of racism and bigotry anymore than the
Kenyatta family does?
The contention with colonialism was the
disproportionate allocation and ownership of resources
in the face of a vast marginalised and impoverished
populace. Kenya therefore is no less a colony today
than it was 41 years ago. It also follows that Jomo
Kenyatta amongst others, may as well have been the
oppressors and Col. Grogan, Lord Delamare, Lord Jock
Broughton, Lord Egerton, Lord Errol et al, the
oppressed. Colonialism was and is not about race, but
about ownership and control of resources, and the
might that goes with it.
The expose by the Standard Group should aid us in our
quest to transform this country. An entire population
emerges as pawns in a bigger, complex and more
intricate scheme of affairs, with a stake that does
not go beyond the ownership of a national identity
card or passport. We have brought this state of
affairs upon ourselves because we have never played a
definite role, or showed any real concern in the
destiny of this country.
It is hard to see how proposals by the Ministry of
Lands to legislate punitive measures against ownership
of fallow land will succeed, given the presence of
several large land owners cum powerbrokers in the
present and past regimes. Even if the proposed
legislation does succeed however, only part of the
problem would have been solved. The other and more
difficult part would be for the nation to convert the
vast acreages of fallow and semi-arable land to viable
use. Whichever way one looks at it, vast sums of money
would have to be committed to the long-term
development of infrastructure countrywide, to enable
this viability. Are the government and people of this
country willing to commit themselves to a 40/45-year
long-term venture of this nature? We do not have a
choice because the limited resources of this country
cannot withstand the tremendous pressure on them much
longer, especially with regard to the capital city,
Nairobi.
The land ownership expose is also key in dispensing
with the long held misconception that problems in this
country start and end with former President Daniel
arap Moi. It is unfair and unjustified for an entire
nation to have singled out Moi for blame for so long
then and even now. It is this remarkable tolerance and
patience that certainly endeared Kenyatta to Moi. It
is this remarkable tolerance and patience that kept
this country going for several years. For instance,
the Standard Group expose states that the land on
which Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University
currently stand on, was part of a much larger piece of
land that initially belonged to George Criticos,
before it changed ownership to the Kenyatta family.
Details of the transaction are however sketchy and
unavailable. It is interesting that bitter critics of
Moi’s era and overenthusiastic aficionados of
Kenyatta’s era, have never pointed out such
discrepancies. If Moi is to stand trial for misrule,
then Kenyatta and his entire government, must also do
so posthumously.
The general elections of 27th May 1963 succeeded in
bringing in a new regime that rapidly transferred
ownership of former Crown lands to a select few over a
period of 40 years. The general elections of 27th
December 2002 were wrongly interpreted as a genuine
effort to undo these injustices, but were instead a
futile attempt and belief by an overenthusiastic
populace, to circumvent this lengthy process by the
apparent convenience and apparent ease of the ballot
box.
Michael Mundia Kamau