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Ogiek position on
Kenya's new constitution
by
Charles S. Sena and Joseph K. Towett
(December
14, 2001) Throughout the period of colonialism, post-colonial
and the present government, the Ogiek people have particularly
been seen to be harmful and barbaric. Subsequently, the state
sanctioned and continue to sanction series of efforts to dispossess
off their land besides seeking to exterminate, assimilate and/or
impoverish the Ogiek through constant evictions and disruption
of their traditional lifestyles. In an effort to achieve the above-stated,
the state has successfully used the provincial administration
as agents of conquest through violation of the Ogiek civil liberties,
e.g. denial of democratic processes, coupled with legal, economic
and cultural persecutions. To date the Ogiek are not considered
a people in this country under any known legal regime but are
famous to the state as lawless trespassers and poachers and where
considered they are treated as second-class citizens.
Constitutional
and legal issues
The independent
constitution made no special provisions to protect the rights
of indigenous minorities in Kenya. Such is the case of the Ogiek,
a hunter-gatherer community where no attention was paid to their
existence as a people. The colonial rulers ignored their plight.
The report of the Carter Land Commission of 1933 abounds in unresolved
claims by the Ogiek for their ancestral territories. Whereas the
Ogiek wanted recognition as a distinct nation and rejected attempts
to make them appendages of either the Maasai or Kalejins, the
colonial authorities sought the contrary, thus denying the Ogiek
identity of their own, which position was carried over by succeeding
governments in Kenya.
At the negotiations
leading to the independent constitution, nothing happened in relation
to the plight of the Ogiek, their concerns, aspirations and needs.
Their traditional territories were turned into protected areas,
trust lands, Government forests and what remained is currently
under distribution to outsiders in an effort by the state to destroy
a people culture, identity and beliefs. This has resulted in them
being branded squatters in their Independent nation. The continued
dispossession and displacement of the Ogiek from their land has
seen their way of life criminalized by the state through legislation.
The hunting and gathering which the Ogiek traditionally practiced
has been outlawed and criminalized, wild animals became either
the property of the state or the individual farmer. Suddenly,
feeding the family became a crime and all the highly specialized
economic skills developed over centuries were rendered redundant
and obsolete. The continued dispossession of land and natural
resources has caused the Ogiek people to plunge from a situation
of self-reliance into poverty and dependency on external resources.
Land
The most
pressing concern for indigenous communities the world over is
land, use and occupation. To them the relationship with land is
not merely a question of possession and production but also a
material and spiritual element which they should fully enjoy as
well as a means to preserve their cultural heritage and pass it
on to the future generations. The Ogiek are known as natural conservationists
and have co-existed with nature for many years without the slightest
of destruction because the relied on nature and its bio-diversity
for their survival. The Ogiek are now under threat, as are the
forests, from the state's systematic degazettement, which facilitates
logging and flower plantations for the European markets and for
political mileage.
Education
Thirty-eight
years after independence, the state has not seen the need to come
up with educational policies to suit the needs of minority communities.
This marginalization has resulted in the ills affecting indigenous
communities in Kenya. The constant evictions of the Ogiek by the
state machinery has disoriented the community due to lack of information
on their right to education. Constantly the political establishment
has suppressed the voice of the Ogiek elites in an effort to instill
fear and stop them from championing the Ogiek cause. The majority
of the Ogiek remain the less educated and the few educated remain
marginalized in all spheres of life. The situation is a result
of lack of constitutional recognition of minority indigenous communities
and their constitutional safeguards.
Health
A healthy
people make a healthy nation. For many years the Ogiek have relied
on their traditional medicine for their treatment .They have no
access to primary health care and this testifies why they are
few in number because of high mortality rate. AIDS was alien to
the Ogiek but now a common disease among the Ogiek attributed
to the scramble for their land.
Socio-political
rights
The marginalization
of the Ogiek people has been institutionalized by the past and
the present governments. This creates special problems in the
democratic processes because no one is responsible for indigenous
minority issues. The present constitution does not recognize indigenous
constituencies as distinct. State officials tend to be ignorant
of the needs, cultures and conditions of indigenous people. For
instance, the Ogiek have been made minorities in their own lands
and have no political representation and hence do not participate
in decision making on issues affecting their lives.
Recommendations
1. The new
constitution to recognize indigenous minority nations alongside
their cultural values, language, and identity.
2. The country
to return to regionalism so that the aspirations of indigenous
minorities may be realized.
3. The constitution
to provide a system of governance that allow minorities and indigenous
peoples to participate in decision-making and implementation.
4. The constitution
to provide for mechanism for the restitution of indigenous peoples
land and compensation of loss territory.
5. The constitution
to guarantee the provision of social, economic and political rights
to minority indigenous peoples.
6. The constitution
to guarantee equitable representation in the government through
the reservation of seats for indigenous minorities.
7. The protection
of their environment be enshrined in the constitution.
8. The constitution
to recognize international instruments on indigenous peoples'
rights.
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