By Caroline Katana
Competition over land ownership can be found in almost every African country, where power, wealth, and survival are measured by ownership and control of land as a vital resource for sustenance.
Conflict between locals and foreign pastoralists over land ownership has been a contentious and perennial problem in Kinango sub-county, Kwale County, making legal protection against conflict over land ownership imperative.
Land ownership is often the primary cause of conflict given that the survival of most Duruma community members depends on land and struggles for its control involve everyone in the society.
Bearing in mind the socio-economic significance of land, it is not surprising that social or ethnic conflicts over land are occasioned by inequitable control over land.
In the upper region of Kinango, Kwale County, private developers, bureaucrats, indigenous elite and livestock keepers use their positions and wealth to amass large tracts of land, on which they establish cattle ranches and plantations.
In many cases, their activities deprive the rural areas of parcels of land on which their subsistence hinges.
The locals affected are forced to walk long distances in search of farmland or risk encroaching on grazing lands, which may lead to conflict with pastoralists.
Approximately 30 kilometers from Samburu town is the Kanjaocha area, it is at the border of Kwale and Kilifi counties, where over 100 families live in dilemma.
According to the history, some families were moved to the Kanjaocha areas from Nyari to pave the way for a private developer to undertake agro-business in the Nyari sisal estate that covers thousands of acres of land,
Unfortunately in Kanjaocha, the locals are now living in fear of being evicted by foreign pastoralists known to them as Sprach and Ibrahim Somo who allege of leasing Kanjaocha land for grazing their hundreds of livestock through the Gede Mitangani committee from Kilifi County.
In the recent past, Kanjaocha drew the attention of political and government leaders following an ownership dispute between Kwale and Kilifi counties but up to date the matter is still in the hands of the relevant authorities.
Violence against women increases during conflict situations, mass rape has often been used as a war tactic to erode individual relations and community and family structures.
Increased psychological trauma, unwanted pregnancies from rape, and high–risk abortion practices severely impact women’s reproductive health.
Women in Kanjaocha are not exceptional in violence, over 20 women have reported cases of sexual abuse by the foreign pastoralist workers grazing the hundreds of livestock in the land, Kafedha Charo confirmed the incidents.
“We cannot fetch firewood or cultivate our land due to the evil acts by the foreign workers, they rape women who normally go into the bush to collect firewood, our rights are violated because we are poor,” said Kafedha.
Mudzomba Nyawa, a resident in Kanjaocha, said threats, and intimidation from Sprach and Somo workers and security officers manning the livestock have become part of their life.
“We have been witnessing harassment while on our daily duties of searching bread for our families, the workers threaten to kill us using machetes, arrows and sometimes they threatened to shoot us and if we resist, they normally call GSU officers from Macknon station and Ganze police division to arrest us,” said Mudzomba.
Benson Nzole said they lack freedom on their land following the 7 PM mandatory curfew by the security officers from Bamba police station and GSU at Macknon.
“I want the president to ensure all security officers deliver services to citizens as per the constitution, not intimidating locals because of guarding tycoons and if there are excess officers in Kenya then it is good for the president to send them to Haiti, instead of harassing innocent Kenyans,” said Nzole.
Three years down the line since the alleged encroachment of Kanjaocha Land, locals say no farming activity is taking place on the land.
Nyanje Mdoe said they have nowhere to plant crops even as the County government distributes seeds to the residents.
“Our county government has put efforts in boosting agriculture to ensure food security to its people, we have been witnessing seed distribution every planting season but where is the land to cultivate and plant, our land is full of livestock, and we will be more and more hurt by hunger because we cannot produce food,” he said.
The land chairman Kaingu Teka said Sprach and Somo have owned the land to the extent of leasing it to other livestock herders, terming the move to violate their land rights.
“The pastoralists claim to lease the land through a committee from Kilifi County known as Gede Mitangani chaired by Robert Changawa, the committee claims Kanjaocha to belong to Kilifi County despite the GPRS showing the area to be in Kwale County, they have initiated a business of leasing our land to other livestock herders, how can that happen in our presence,” posed Teka.
Teka called upon the county government of Kwale to ensure the land is returned to the hands of the locals once the conflict is resolved.
“We cannot continue living like scooters because of tycoons, we want our land back, whoever took money from the tycoons and permitted them to graze in our land must return it, we want peace here, we can’t take it anymore,” he added.
The families’ voices condemned the violation of their rights, calling upon human rights organizations, and the national and county governments to intervene and ensure the tycoon pastoralists leave their land immediately.
“The suffering is too much for us, these herders are making us poor, they are stealing our livestock, drying our dams, grazing our crops, raping our women, enough is enough, it’s time for them to leave this land, let them find refugee elsewhere,” said Teka.
Our efforts to get comments from Sprach were fruitless since he could not pick up our calls.
African governments need to recognize the complexities that exist in these conflicts and remove barriers to accessing land for pastoralists without compromising the rights of farming communities.
Designing viable conditions under which land is occupied and used by nomadic and farming communities such as creating grazing corridors through inclusive decision-making would reduce conflict and this would also secure pastoralist livelihoods without weakening customary ownership of farming communities.
