        |
|
Bowing to pressure from zealous environmentalists and donor countries, the Kenyan government has reverted to the colonial style of blaming the victim. The argument is that in Kenya a "tragedy of the commons" is unfolding. The Kenyan government asserts that the Maasai own too many cattle and use too much land, and therefore are responsible for causing land degradation. However, it is the government that is responsible for the ongoing subdivision of group ranches, which is a poor remedy for land conservation and only serves to further disenfranchise the Maasai and further destroy the fragile ecological balance in Kenya's Rift Valley.
Before subdivision, the area used by the Maasai was not as densely populated as it is now. The massive concentration of humans and animals in progressively smaller areas results in loss of livestock, especially due to starvation during Kenya's dry seasons. Small plots are inadequate to sustain Maasai livestock. Subdivision has therefore proved more calamitous to the Maasai than the group ranch system. It has also served to polarize the Maasai, as the more sophisticated individuals tend to own more land. Further, it affords the small Maasai elite the opportunity to sell the land to non-indigenous peoples. Many areas previously occupied by the Maasai are now owned outright by non-Maasai people. Consequently, the Maasai are forced to move, the older people retreating to even more arid regions, while the young move to Nairobi to seek employment.
Ironically, the remedy to preserve Kenya's ecological balance has resulted in its deterioration. As the MDA revealed to the UNWGIP, the non-indigenous peoples moving onto Maasai lands are using agricultural methods unsuitable to lands that are already fragile. Their relentless pursuit of commercial profit prevents the land from sufficient recovery. Prior to subdivision, the semi-nomadic Maasai moved their herds seasonally, allowing the land to recover before being grazed again. This ecological question leaves doubts about the real policy towards the Maasai, whether it is to establish and expand their rights as an indigenous people or to extinguish them.
Protecting the environment is an overused alibi for the removal of indigenous peoples and excluding them from decisions concerning their interests. The Maasai view land spiritually. For them, the land is connected to their souls. The neglect and wanton destruction of land and wildlife is a totally alien concept to indigenous peoples. They use only what is needed; surplus is a capitalist concept that does not figure into their logic. But because of their refusal to assimilate, they are now forced into removal by the international community and a complicit state, in the name of the environment.
The Maasai have already made substantial sacrifices for wildlife and environment. When their lands were confiscated to create national parks, the Maasai were removed without compensation. Today, the Maasai Mara, Tsavo West, Amboseli and Nairobi national parks contribute heavily to the tourist trade that supports the Kenyan national economy. But for the Maasai, the parks serve as emblems of dishonesty and greed, the symbols of others' insatiable appetites for Maasai resources.
Meanwhile, since 1991, ethnic violence has threatened to plunge Kenya into total chaos. Relentless land-grabbing, compounded by government complicity, has fostered an environment conducive to hatred and violence. This situation has led observers to speculate upon the possibility of a wave of ethnic cleansing like that in Rwanda or an outright civil war. The government's call for a return to Majimboism, and the measures taken to oppose political pluralism are fanning the flames of ethnic tension. The incarceration and torture of Kenya's leading dissident, Koigi wa Wamwere, is evident of President Moi's despotism and the coercive nature of the Kenyan state. And as the government continues its quest to make Kenya an ethnocentrist one-party state, the Maasai find themselves caught in the cross-fire.
Fourth World Bulletin • Spring/Summer 1996
Copyright © 1996 by the Fourth World Center
Created by Aigis Communications, Ltd