The deaths and humanitarian situation in Laikipia is sad and regrettable but again the clashes are bringing to the fore a burning issue that has for long been hidden underneath the mat
I hear half the county, comprising more than 800,000 acres, is a property of imperialists. (this is the size of the entire Kakamega county)
Indeed the independence of 1963 was a pseudo or it never happened in Lakipia, where foreigners own ranches as big as 100k acres, as Kenyans suffocate in slums, for landlessness
Likuyani constituency at the appendix of Kakamega county comprises some 74k acres and is home to some 130k people, distributed in some 30k households
What then does someone need 100k acres for, all for himself and his wife?
The Britons aren’t alone in this. There are some native imperialists as well, mostly comprising families of Kenya’s first three presidents, their families and their henchmen
This shoud be addressed immediately. I know even if the land is redistributed to locals, it will not be a magic bullet to entirely solve the landlessness quagmire in the country, as some people will still sell theirs to some rich man, to buy pikipiki and infinix phones, but it will be right step in correcting historical land injustices
Someone will tell me about the constitutional sanctity of private property but again something doesn’t become right because it is legal
Apartheid was legal and so was colonialism. Even corruption in Kenya is almost legal, because no one has even been punished for participating in the vice
Kenya isn’t an annex of Britain. Again no one, a native or otherwise should be allowed to hoard land, leaving it idle with snakes and other wild animals roaming in it, when some other people are homeless and cannot afford land to grow food for their children
End of the dawn rant
By Jerome Ogola via FB
