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NOTES
1
The name Ogiek is used by professional anthropologists to refer
to the hunter-gatherer communities that inhabit the forests in Kenya
central Rift Valley. The name Dorobo has also been used in recent
literature to refer to the Ogiek and in newspaper articles. Amongst
themselves, members of this community prefer the term Ogiek, also
spelt Okiek.
2
See for instance, Rogers M. Van Zwanenberg, 1976, "Dorobo Hunting
and Gathering: A way of life or a mode production", African Economic
History 2; G.W.B. Huntingford, 1929: Modern Hunters: Some account
of the Kamelilo-Kapchekendi Dorobo (Ogiek) of Kenya Colony. Journal
of the Royal Anthropological Institute, LIX, 333.
3
The Maasai do not eat wild game and rely on meat from their livestock.
To the Maasai the Ogiek way of life depicts poverty hence the nickname
"il Torobo".
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 The
Ogiek1 inhabit the Mau forests
of central Rift Valley of Kenya but many historical works2
refer to them in the contemptuous nickname, Dorobo, which means
"poor people who cannot afford cattle".
The name Dorobo is derived
from a Maasai name il torobo which means a "poor person who
has no cattle and has to live on hunting and gathering"3
and is currently widely used to refer to many other communities
that inhabit the Kenyan forests.
In this work the name
Ogiek is used to refer to the residents of Mau Forests in Kenya.
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4
J.l. Bernsten, 1973, "Maasai and Iloikop: Ritual Experts and their
followers", MA Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 47.
5
W.A. Chandler, 1896, Through the Jungle and the Desert: Travels
in East Africa, Macmillan, London.
6
C.W. Hobley, 1903, "Notes Concerning the Eldorobbo of OggiekMan
317, 33-4.
7
see for instance K.R. Dundas, 1908, "Notes on the Origin and the
history of the Kikuyu and Dorobo tribes", Man p.136-9. And G.W.B.
Huntingford, 1929, "Modern Hunters", Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Institute 59, 333-78.
8
R.H. Blackburn, 1974, "The Okiek and their History", Azania
vol 9, 150.
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There is controversy
on the origins of the Ogiek with some earlier scholars thinking
that the Ogieks were "probably remnants of some pre-Maasai people
who occupied the Rift valley and adjacent areas before the arrival
of the Maa speaking peoples".4
The first mention of
the Ogiek in published literature was by W.A. Chandler who noted
their unique physical features and thought they were different compared
to other tribes5 while C.W. Hobley6
said they reminded him of "Mongolian types". What followed was a
general speculation about the Ogiek and their neighbours7
and the final conclusion reached by 1974 was that "there is nothing
in the traditional Ogiek life of hunting and gathering which would
indicate a prior adaptation to a plains environment or to pastoralism
or agriculture".8
The question that remains
then is why the Ogiek were never taken to be a tribal and distinct
cultural entity and why everyone wanted them out of their habitats.
Although they speak a
Kalenjin dialect, depending on who they border, as their first language,
the Ogieks do not (even today) consider themselves to belong to
either Tugen, Nandi or Kipsigis by virtue of speaking the language.
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R.H. Blackburn, 1974, "The Okiek and their History", Azania
vol 9. |
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"All Ogiek maintain
that they are one people in origin who have separated some time
in the past and now live in different high forest areas and have
become like their non-Ogiek neighbours in language and to some extent
culturally, socially and technologically".9
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Yeoman, G.H., 1993: "High Altitude Forest Conservation in Relation
to Dorobo People" Kenya Past and Present, 3. |
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However,
they differ from neighbouring tribes in that for many years they
lacked corporately organised formal institutions. They had no chiefs,
clan leaders or formal councils. Historians say that indicates that
the Ogiek were the original inhabitants of the Central Rift Valley
leading to a general feeling that only the Ogiek "have at least
a claim to be aboriginal East Africans since there is no evidence
of their having come from elsewhere".10
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Yeoman, G.H., 1993: "High Altitude Forest Conservation in Relation
to Dorobo People" Kenya Past and Present, 3. |
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"[The Ogiek]
are a hunting and gathering people of antiquity greater than other
peoples amongst whom they now live i.e. the Nandi, Kipsigis, Maasai,
Kikuyu, etc.", concludes Guy Yeoman.11
Initially, the Ogieks
covered virtually all the central highland zones of the country
but have slowly been squeezed out by invading tribes, the colonial
settlers and now by settling communities.
Another process in which
the Ogiek lost their land was through declaration of their ancestral
land as forest reserves.
The above processes have
not only led to wanton destruction of the natural forest on which
the Ogiek depend on but has seen the replacement of indigenous forest
cover with useless exotic conifer plantations.
The process was concluded
in the 1937-1938 Kenya Land (Carter) Commission that recommended
the eviction of the Ogiek from the remaining forests and to concentrate
them either on European farms as squatters or in the Forestry Department
labour camps. The colonial government thus used the Ogiek to destroy
their own habitat by clearing the forest and replacing the indigenous
trees with exotic to meet the colonial needs of timber.
This injustice was noted
earlier on with one commentator writing:
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Unpublished commentary by Guy Yeoman on the Ogiek stored at Kenya
National Archives. |
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"In as much as
the Ogiek are offered employment by the forestry department and
are encouraged to leave the forest and join the great labour camps,
they are...working for their own extinction since every hectare
of trees they plant is a hectare of their birthright lost forever".12
Unlike other communities
in colonial Kenya that were easily controlled the Ogiek posed a
problem since they had no organisational structure.
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Yeoman, G.H., 1993: "High Altitude Forest Conservation in Relation
to Dorobo People," Kenya Past and Present, 3. |
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"To the European
farmers, foresters and administrators, the [Ogiek] represented a
tiresome problem. They were an elusive, apparently (but not truly)
nomadic, uncountable people lacking a recognisable hierarchical
structure, resistant to tidy organisation".13
In his work Guy Yeoman
has heaped praise on the Ogiek especially their character. We lavishly
extract some of them here. Yeoman says that the Ogiek "are capable
of being totally and comfortably self-sufficient on the natural
products of the forest, with the exception of what little iron they
need for making their arrow heads, knives and spears".
He further describes
the Ogiek as "a shy and diffident people, of engaging gentleness
and charm, considerable intelligence, of quite astonishing technical
expertise in their special arts of hunting and bee-keeping, and
having a most unusual sensibility in relation to their forests and
the creatures which inhabit them".
And these characteristics
can be observed on the Ogiek still and one would agree with Yeoman
when he says that unlike other communities the Ogiek "are not gregarious
and are happiest in situation of isolation, the trees and animals
proving them with the psychological support".
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14
A Whital, 1957/8: The Last of Dorobo. E.A. annual 71.
15
Yeoman, G.H., 1993: "High Altitude Forest Conservation in Relation
to Dorobo People" Kenya Past and Present, 4.
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The uniqueness of the
Ogieks is on their linguistic facility and are able to adopt the
language of their neighbours at ease. It is because of this characteristic
that some scholars and administrators thought that the Ogieks were
not a true ethnic group. Whital14
for instance thought the Ogieks were "outlaws from other tribes
who have found refuge in the forests". There were other similar
misconceptions which saw the Ogiek as a "dying remnant", "lawless
poachers" et cetera to which one scholar15
posed:
"[But] how can
one poach one's own game on one's own ancestral land?"
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16
Yeoman, G.H., 1993: "High Altitude Forest Conservation in Relation
to Dorobo People" Kenya Past and Present, 10.
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The
introduction by the colonial government of game and forest laws
saw the criminalization of Ogiek survival tactics and legally deprived
them of a home. The Forest Act and the Wildlife Conservation Act
had multiple effects on the Ogiek. They were evicted from the forest
on the grounds that the colonial government wanted to "conserve"
the forests. The second injustice that followed was the replacement
of their natural forests with Conifer plantations that are, to the
Ogiek, "totally sterile, unproductive, and useless for either bees
or wild animals".16
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17
R.H. Blackburn, 1974, "The Okiek and their History", Azania
vol 9.
18
G.W.B. Huntingford, 1955 "The economic life of the Dorobo",
Anthropos 50:602, see also G.W.B. Huntingford, 1929: "Modern
Hunters: Some account of the Kamelilo-Kapchekendi Dorobo (Ogiek)
of Kenya Colony". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,
LIX, 333.
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It is true that the Ogiek
did hunting in the Mau Forest. Traditionally three-quarters of their
diet consisted of game meat while honey contributed to less than
a quarter.17 As Huntingford noted
the Ogiek display an affinity with and care for the wild animals
in their forests. They only killed to meet their domestic needs
and predominantly only those species with buoyant populations such
as warthog and tree hyrax.18
Had this been taken into
consideration the Ogiek should have been taken as the true inhabitants
of the forests. But then there was the perception that they were
"outlaws" and the best the colonial government did was to come up
with the "overall solution" to the "Dorobo problem".
The Kenya Land (Carter)
Commission which was set up to look into land problems in the Kenya
colony between 1938-9 deprived the Ogiek of their tribal status
and denied them any claim to ancestral land. The Ogiek were to be
moved into the tribal reserves of other communities especially the
Nandi, Kipsigis, and Maasai. This roved to be impractical since
the Ogiek abandoned the reserves and went back to their homes in
the forest where they were seen as squatters.
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19
R.H. Blackburn, 1971, "Honey in Okiek Personality, Culture and Society",
unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Michigan State University.
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It
was not fun to stay out of the forest or to abandon an economic
system they had for ages practised. Blackburn tried to explain this
by arguing that the Ogiek have "a honey complex"19
and that by far honey is the most important item in the Ogiek culture.
It was plentiful, valued and used as a medium of trade.
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20
R.H. Blackburn, 1974, "The Okiek and their History", Azania
vol. 9.
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"Without honey
and condition of getting it Ogiek life would be entirely different.
This explains why the Ogiek live in the forest," wrote Blackburn.20
The initial assumption
was that the Ogiek did not own the forests as their ancestral land.
But research carried by Blackburn indicated the contrary. He wrote:
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21
R.H. Blackburn, 1974, "The Okiek and their History", Azania
vol. 9, 146.
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"Cross-cutting
the horizontal ecological zones are streams which run parallel to
each other, draining the Mau (escarpment). Since these are permanent
water sources, animals and humans can remain permanently in restricted
areas without needing to migrate. Between the streams are strips
of land, sloping down the Mau and with a central ridge, which extends
upwards through all the forest zones. Each is owned by a different
local lineage. Significantly, rights over a lineage territory do
not extend to the exclusive use of the territory for residence or
hunting by the owning lineage".21
According to Blackburn
a lineage could bequeath the honey collecting rights to other persons
or lineage. This involved legal compensation, bride-price payments,
or outright purchase or outright purchase in those zones where there
were no animals.
It was then
reckless on the part of the colonial government to interfere with
the Ogiek way of life and for the independent Kenya government to
continue with the wanton destruction of the Ogiek habitat.
The destruction of Ogiek
forests saw them turn to small-scale arable farming and stock raising
in the forests. The unassuming community found later that the only
land they could call home was Forestry Department land and they
were being granted short-term tenure on sufferance in return for
clearing and cultivating the soil for the planting of exotic trees.
After every few years they were moved on to clear other areas thus
irreversibly destroying their natural habitat. Whether this was
by design remains a matter of speculation. But we do believe it
was a colonial design to exploit the Mau forest.
Elders who
spoke to our research team recalled how they were moved from their
original home near Lake Nakuru to Olare in East Mau sometimes around
1908. Then they were moved towards Elburgon by a man they only know
as "Pettyjohn".
Some elders also say
that a forester who they nicknamed "Kongoru" was the one who set
the tone for the eviction of Ogieks when he moved them to Marioshoni
around 1914.
Kongoru confiscated
the Ogiek cattle and destroyed a total of 6,000 beehives.
It was at Marioshoni
that the Ogieks were first used as labourers initially to plant
exotic tree species. It was at this time that Nessuit, Kiptunga,
Sururu and Baraget became settled areas.
In 1936, the colonialists
using forest destruction as a cover attempted to evict the Ogiek.
The real reason was to harvest the indigenous trees wholesale. It
was at this time that the Ogiek were to be removed from these areas
for Narok. The Ogieks refused to stay at Narok and were returned
to Marioshoni by their leader Tiwas. Tiwas resisted the colonial
government and died in 1947. His brother Kuresoi was picked by elders
along with Sururu Kitango.
In 1975 the last of the
three Ogiek leaders, Kitango died. The government insisted on appointing
a new chief for them, which they refused. It was not until 1989
when the government finally picked an Ogiek chief.
In the same period the
then Nakuru District Commissioner Jonah Anguka tried to have the
Ogieks of East Mau transferred to West Mau. An estimated 90% refused
and those who left under duress soon returned. Due to this resistance,
the provincial administration left them alone. The DO of Molo
Division then appointed heavy-handed chiefs who were used by the
administration to harass the Ogieks. MORE>>
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