|
Genesis of Mt Elgon crisis and Ndorobo factor
BY Wakape Ruth
KENYA TIMES
17. April 2007
THE History in Chepyuk settlement scheme dates back to 1969-1971. Emia and Chepyuk locations, which occupy 94.4 sq. kilometres, were once a forest land before January 1971.
Towards the end of 1969, the then President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta through the Provincial Commissioner Western J. G. Mburu, District Commissioner Peter Oranga and area MP Daniel Moss in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands and Settlement agreed with the Ndorobo community leaders that they (Ndorobos) be moved from their ancestral home Chepkitale 30 kilometres from their ancestral home and be settled at the edge of the forest.
There were valid reasons why this move was prudent. Firstly, the Government considered the Ndorobo’s natural domicile too remote to offer services. There was no form of communications and infrastructure in the area. In other words, it was all a logistical nightmare. Using the donkey was the sole mode of transport. There was little in terms of health care facilities, little in terms of farming activities and certainly there was nothing like cash crops to be seen in the area. The Ndorobos chiefly depended on milk, meat, wild fruits and honey being pastoralists hunters and gatherers.
The Ndorobos had only their animals, wild animals, birds the river and the sky as their neighbours. They were completely plugged off from modern economic activities. So two compelling reason prompted the plans to effect the moves. There was the need to bring the community close to modern infrastructural facilities which could not be effected within the forests and there were also reasons of biodiversity and conservation for ecological purposes.
Mt. Elgon happens to be one of the largest water catchment areas within the region. It was felt that there were activities which were inimical to the long term interests for sustainable development. The idea of conservation is one East African countries can not continue to play lip service to. And as our own Peace Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai has persistently urged Kenyan authorities to be more mindful of shared natural resources, development which is not pegged in conservation of our biodiversity is not likely to amount to much.
It was in this light and in respect of the above that the Government decided to take urgent measures to ensure that the forest is protected and carved out the forest, the current Chepyuk settlement scheme for Ndorobos in exchange for Chepkitale where they had occupied 86,000 acres of land. Chepyuk scheme became an alternative for Chepkitale in 1971 as a away to break the isolation with other communities.
In 1971 The Ndorobos were a community of 468 families close to about 3,870 people. They were given 16,000 thousand acres in Chepyuk scheme where they stayed for seven months.
Trouble started after the children succumbed to mysterious illnesses that the Ndorobos started moving back to their home but the government would not hear anything like it in 1970.
Then in January 1971, the Government deployed contingent of armed general service Unit (GSU) Administration and Regular Police, and prison warders who forcefully evicted the Ndorobos from Chepkitale back to Chepyuk. The Ndorobos were beaten back and since then, they have stayed in Chepyuk without title deeds and without meaningful economic development.
The Catholic church, Salvation Army, Anglican Church of Kenya and Friends Quakers, introduced schools in the area in 1972. By 2004, the Ndorobos constituted a population of 11,500 in a district of 135,033 people.
The two locations have a population of 27,734 people as per the 1999 consensus report by Central Bureau of Statistics a clear indication of over 16,000 foreigners in the
area.
|
