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Placing land rights at the heart of development BRIEF

History of Land Conflicts In Kenya

Kenyans line up to vote in national elections, December 2007. Much of the violence that followed the elections was linked to long-standing land disputes. Photo: Ian Schuler

By Peter Veit MAP INTRODUCTION

Kenya drew international attention in 2007 when widespread violence broke out following presidential elections, resulting in the death of 1,300 people and the displacement of as many as 600,000 individuals. Much of the violence was linked to long-standing land disputes. Kenya has endured a long history of land conflicts, dating back to its colonial period when first the Germans and then the British promulgated policies and practices that alienated people from their customary land and pitted one against another. These policies were extended after independence. Ethnic divisions, especially over traditional land, were exploited for short-term political ends. Kenya’s Peter Veit is acting Program Director of the new Constitution of 2010, however, provides hope that some historical Institutions and Governance Program at the injustices will be addressed. Resources Institute.

March 2011 Kenya: History of Land Conflicts 2

In 1902, the British government granted the private East Syndicate 1,300 km2 of land in the Rift Valley and surrounding highlands to promote white settlement and establish export .

Tea estate in , Kenya. Photo: Swetawriter

TERRITORIAL CLAIMS (BEAC), receiving a royal charter from opened up the interior to white farmers, BY COLONIAL POWERS the British government, and the original missionaries and administrators, and grant to administer the . In various government programs. In the early 1800s, was a base 1890, formally handed its for European trade and exploration coastal holdings in Kenya (and all claims Economic development was needed of Africa. On 7 August 1885, German to territory in ) to the British in to pay for the and warships arrived in Zanzibar, demanding exchange for German control over the make it profitable, and to speed up that Barghash cede his mainland coast of Tanganyika and other territory. modernization in Britain’s Uganda and to the German emperor. At The colonial takeover of met East Africa Protectorates. In 1902, the the Berlin Conference of 1885, Britain with some strong local resistance. On British government granted the private suggested that the two nations have 1 July 1895, following BEAC financial East Africa Syndicate 1,300 km2 of separate spheres of interest over difficulties, the British revoked BEAC’s land in the Rift Valley and surrounding the territory stretching inland to the charter, proclaimed the East African highlands to promote white settlement Great Lakes. The compromise was Protectorate, and established direct and establish export agriculture. The accepted by Germany, and the British rule over the interior as far west as temperate fertile highlands - the White consul persuaded the Sultan to sign an Lake . In 1902, the was Highlands - became the enclave of white agreement ceding his mainland territory. extended to Uganda. immigrants (some Britons, but mainly This excluded a 16 km-wide strip of land white South Africans) engaged in large- on the Kenya coast, over which Germany To promote development in the scale farming and dependent on African set up a protectorate. In November 1886, neighboring , the laborers who were mainly Kikuyu, but a line was drawn inland of the Sultan’s British built the “Uganda Railway” to also Kalenjn, Luhya, Masaai, and Luo. coastal land to and give Uganda access to the sea. The first Settlers with 1,000 British pounds in on to at latitude 1° S; section of the railway was started in assets could receive 1,000 acres (4 km2) the British sphere of influence was to 1895 and the entire railway—from coastal for free. Many settlers established the north, the German sphere was to , the administrative center of plantations, which required expensive the south. the East African Protectorate, to machinery, a stable labor force, and on Lake Victoria—was completed in a wait time of four years before the In 1887, the British East Africa 1901. In 1905, became the new crops began producing. Other settlers Association, led by Sir William capital of the . established large-scale plantations. Mackinnon, claimed concessionary rights Railway extensions, such as the Nairobi- to the Sultan’s strip of coastal land. and Konza-Magadi lines, were Settler agriculture entailed the In 1888, the Association became the constructed to link other towns in the dispossesion of Africans, mainly Kikuyu, Imperial British East Africa Company East African Protectorate. The railways Maasai, and Kalenjin across the Rift Kenya: History of Land Conflicts 3

Beginning in 1941, the British embarked on a series of resettlement schemes involving forceful evictions and repatriations of Kikuyu, Maasai, Kalenjin and other tribes, back-and-forth between the central highlands and Rift Valley.

The British colonial empire routinely brutalized 90,000 Kenyans during the nationalist Mau-Mau movement from 1952-1960. (Above) Mau Mau camp. Photo: The Prisma, UK

Valley and Nyanza, Western and Central freehold title. While ideal for securing ETHNIC GROUP LOSSES provinces. In 1897, the British declared the private estates of settlers, all “waste and unoccupied land” in the customary tenure involved a complex During colonial rule, every ethnic group East African Protectorate to be “Crown system of nested and overlapping in the Protectorate experienced land Land” vested in the imperial power. In individual and group rights derived from losses, although some groups lost more 1899, the colonial power declared that kinship relationships that did not lend land than others. By 1934, the 30,000 all land, irrespective of whether it was itself to concepts of absolute individual white settlers in the Protectorate—less occupied or unoccupied, had accrued ownership. As a result, most customary than 0.25% of the total population— to the imperial power simply by reason land was left unregistered and controlled about a third of the arable of assumption of jurisdiction, making vulnerable to appropriation and transfer land. When the settlers arrived, the all land available for alienation to to settlers. central highlands were home to a million white settlers. The British government or more Kikuyu. Many of those displaced considered Africans to be “tenants at the In 1904, the British introduced a moved west into the Rift Valley. When will of the Crown.” policy to settle Africans on “native the settlers also moved west and reserves.” This formed the basis of expropriated this land, the Kikuyu (as well as many Maasai) were made their TEnuous Land Rights ethnically defined administrative units, the precursors of today’s and tenants. As tensions between “squatter” The British considered the customary locations. Native Lands Trust Boards farmers (about two-thirds of whom tenure arrangements practiced by the were established to administer land in were Kikuyu) and their white landlords majority of Africans to be inconsistent the reserves. However, land reserved for heightened, the settlers began pushing with development and modernization, African use remained Crown Land and the Africans off the land. Beginning in and colonial policy envisioned the available for alienation at any time. 1941, the British embarked on a series of eventual disappearance of traditional resettlement schemes involving forceful systems. By declaring all land to be The Maasai and other groups negotiated evictions and repatriations of Kikuyu, Crown Land, the land rights of Africans “treaties” for the reserves, but these Maasai, Kalenjin and other tribes, back- became highly tenuous. Land was easily too were not capable of protecting land. and-forth between the central highlands alienated from customary systems, In 1938, a clear separation in colonial law and Rift Valley. usually without compensation. was made between Crown Land on which private titles could be granted, and Land losses by the Kikuyu and other The British also established a tenure native reserves which were to be held ethnic groups were exacerbated by system which only accorded recognition in trust for African use. Reserve land, the commercialization of the local to land rights secured by individual however, continued to be alienated. , which led to the emergence of a wealthy landowning class of Kenya: History of Land Conflicts 4

Kikuyu. Commercialization was spurred in higher potential areas, which were into a Crown Colony, which would bring by the British who (along with the crucial Maasai dry-season grazing lands. them more powers. Except for the settlers) criticized African farming as Sultan’s coastal strip which remained backward and sought to modernize local The ethnic groups on the coast lost their a protectorate, the East African agricultural practices, especially from land through other means. The British Protectorate became a Crown Colony on 1920 to 1945. The British imposed a recognized the claims of the Sultan of 23 July 1920, named the . number of changes in crop production Zanzibar on his 16-km coastal strip. Only and agrarian techniques, claiming to the Sultan’s “subjects”—mainly those promote conservation and “betterment” with some ancestral links outside the of farming in the native reserves. While Protectorate— could register land in many areas were commercialized, this . As a result, up to 25% of the Fact Africans, especially Kikuyu farmers, in indigenous “mijikenda” were turned into other regions engaged in widespread landless squatters, unable to register the resistance to the colonial State’s land they had lived on for generations. agricultural reforms. The mijikenda (“nine homes” or “nine The Young Kikuyu homesteads” in Swahili) are the nine Association, Kenya’s first The Maasai also lost much of their ethnic groups—Digo, Chonyi, Kambe, African political protest customary land to settlers and the Duruma, Kauna, Ribe, Rabaj, Jibana and movement, was established colonial government, including for the Giriama—residing along the coast from in 1921 to assert African creation of protected areas. When the the border of in the north to settlers arrived, the Maasai occupied in the south. rights and, specifically, to an area of about 155,000 km2 in the recover Kikuyu land. central Rift Valley, from Mt. Elgon As their contribution to the economy and the Loriyu Plateau in the north grew, the settlers sought a greater voice to Kibaya in Tanzania in the south. In in government. In 1906, the British 1904, the British moved the Maasai to established the two reserves. In 1911, the northern (LEGCO) in the East African Protectorate. reserve (the fertile Laikipia plateau) was The LEGCO’s first recorded sitting took eliminated and the southern reserve (the place on 17 August 1907. Some settlers semi-arid Ngong) was expanded. In 1913, were appointed and others elected the Maasai were restricted to 40,000 into the LEGCO. Over time, the number km2 of the southern Loieta plains. of settlers on the LEGCO increased, Beginning in 1913 and continuing into although most powers remained with the the 1950s, farmers, particularly Kikuyu, Governor. As a result, the settlers began moved into Maasailand and cropped lobbying to transform the Protectorate

More than a million Kikuyu lived in the central highlands before the arrival of white settlers. By 1934, the settlers controlled about one-third of arable land, and many Kikuyu were forced to move to the Rift Valley—where they were later made tenants of white settlers. (Below) Aerial view of the Rift Valley. Photo: Nisi Creativ Kenya: History of Land Conflicts 5

In the Kenya Colony, the settlers were allowed to elect their own representatives to the LEGCO and quickly moved to establish policies designed to advance their interests. To protect their land, the settlers banned the growing of coffee by Africans, introduced a hut , and granted landless Africans less land in exchange for their labor. As the ability of Africans to provide a living from the land dwindled, there was a massive exodus to the cities. Beginning in the late 1930s, the government further intruded on ordinary Africans through marketing controls, stricter educational supervision and additional land changes.

The settlers opposed demands for political representation by the Africans, Indians and . In the Devonshire Declaration of 1923, the Colonial Office Kenya’s first president, (far right), in a ceremony. declared that African interests (over 95% of the population) must be paramount. In 1924, a white clergy man was (The Unifier). During the 1930s, Kenyatta Despite these reforms, great economic nominated to represent African interests peacefully campaigned on a range of and social inequality persisted. In in the LEGCO. In addition, five Indians issues, including land rights, access October 1952, the Mau Mau militant and one Arab were elected into the to education, respect for traditional group staged an uprising directed LEGCO. The British brought indentured customs and the need for African principally against the colonial laborers from their Indian empire representation in the LEGCO. government and settlers. It was the to construct the railway in Kenya, largest and most successful such encouraging Indian traders from the East In 1944, founded the movement in British Africa. Although African coast into the interior. Africans Kenya African Study Union which, in efforts were made to attract other were excluded from direct political 1946, became the Kenya ethnic groups, the protest was participation until 1944, when the first (KAU). KAU demanded access to settler- supported almost exclusively by Kikuyu. Kenyan was admitted in the LEGCO. owned land and acted as a constituency The seizures of Kikuyu land and the association for the first African member forced displacement of Kikuyu laborers The creation of the Kenya Colony gave of LEGCO, Eliud Wambu Mathu. Mathu for settler production were major rise to African political activity, including was nominated by the Governor in 1944, factors in the Mau Mau revolt: “We the Young Kikuyu Association (later making Kenya the first East African are fighting for all land stolen from renamed the East African Association) colony to include an African LEGCO us by the Crown...according to which and Archdeacon Owen’s “Piny Owacho” member. KAU was soon dominated by Africans have been evicted from the (Voice of the People) Movement. The Kikuyu and, in 1947, Jomo Kenyatta Kenya Highlands....” In response to the Young Kikuyu Association, Kenya’s first became its president. In response to revolt, the British declared a state of African political protest movement, was rising African pressures, the British emergency, restricted African political established in 1921 by Harry Thuku to broadened the LEGCO membership and organizing, and arrested Jomo Kenyatta. assert African rights and, specifically, to increased its role. By 1952, the LEGCO’s Kenyatta was charged with leading the recover Kikuyu land. It advocated civil elected members included 14 settlers, uprising and, in 1953, was convicted and disobedience over new , reduced 6 Indians and 1 Arab elected, plus 6 sentenced to seven years in prison. The wages and the continued loss of land to Africans and 1 Arab chosen by British also forcibly moved thousands settlers. These political activities gave the Governor. of Kenyans, mainly Kikuyu, Embu and a sense of nationalism to many Kikuyu, Meru into reserves, and, from March widely believed as the Kenyan ethnic group most affected by . In 1925, the colonial government FACT suppressed the Young Kikuyu Association, although its members By 1977, about 95% of the former had been quickly regrouped as the Kikuyu Central transferred to black African ownership, principally Kikuyu, but Association. In 1928, Jomo Kenyatta became the general secretary of the also Embu and Meru (together these ethnic groups comprised 30% Kikuyu Central Association and the of the population). editor of its newspaper, Muigwithania Kenya: History of Land Conflicts 6

1954 to the end of 1956 (when the Rights to the Constitution guaranteeing federalism in which regional assemblies worst violence ended), confiscated land property rights proved among the (based on ethnicity, given local belonging to 3,533 suspected militants. most controversial provisions. The government boundaries) would oversee The state of emergency was not lifted African nationalists wanted land reform land administration (some politicians until 1960. About 11,000 Africans, and resettlement, but the settlers warned that would amount to mainly Mau Mau fighters, died—some by argued that their land rights should “ethnic balkanization” of the ). British forces, others by militants as the be protected. There were fears that movement was also an internal struggle Kenya’s landless would reassert the In the early 1960s, on the eve of among the Kikuyu. About 100 Europeans land redistribution aims of Mau Mau independence, a program of settlement died in the violence. movement. To protect settlers, it was schemes, including the “One Million proposed that the taking of private Acre Scheme,” was established to The British made a number of property by the government could only defuse tensions, but also ensure that concessions in response to the Mau Mau be for public purposes and required just the colonial land-holding structure revolt. They embarked on agricultural compensation. A modification added a dominated by large farms could reforms that empowered Africans right of appeal directly to the highest be preserved without a radical and stripped settlers of some of their court in Kenya. The question of which redistribution. Most of the schemes protections, such as allowing Africans “public purposes” justified government negotiated by the departing colonizers (with a license) to grow coffee, the acquisition was not resolved. were designed for relatively small major . Membership of the numbers of carefully selected farmers. LEGCO was altered to accommodate In subsequent Lancaster In contrast, the 1962 One Million Acre eight Africans elected under a weighted conferences, the British pressed Scheme was designed to accommodate franchise based on education. In 1958, Kenyans to accept a “willing buyer, 35,000 land-poor and landless African this was increased to 14 elected African willing seller” approach to distribute families. The colonial administration members, while four of the 12 Specially land from settler farms to Africans, negotiated terms for the purchase of Elected Members chosen by the LEGCO and provided a small load to assist in approximately 1.2 million acres of land were Africans. But this did not appease this effort. Many nationalists, former from white settlers at a cost of 25 British African nationalists, who demanded Mau Mau militants and communities pound million. Many white settlers sold democracy on the principle of “one opposed this, arguing that there was their farms and left Kenya either before man, one vote.” no justification for Kenyans to buy land or shortly after independence. that had been forcefully taken from In , the British convened them. Jomo Kenyatta, president of the In , Kenya achieved the first of several Lancaster House Kenya African National Union (KANU), independence with KANU winning the Conferences in which Kenyans— acquiesced to the British position. The majority of the seats in the Parliament for the first time—were party to Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU), and Jomo Kenyatta as Prime Minister. constitutional negotiations as a step the other emergent African political A year later, under a new constitution, toward independence. A proposed Bill of party, advocated majimbo, a form of Kenya became a with Kenyatta

Nariobi’s growth has been partly fueled by people displaced from their land. Photo: Nisi Creatv Kenya: History of Land Conflicts 7 elected as president and a one-party By 1977, about 95% of the former White sources, environmental degradation, state established. Once in power, Highlands had been transferred to black reduced agricultural productivity and however, Kenyatta swerved from African ownership, principally Kikuyu, products, and declining wellbeing. objectives of nationalism, including but also Embu and Meru (together these widespread restitution of land to ethnic groups comprised 30% With the exception of the 2002 Kenyans and communities. Although of the population). elections, all elections held since considerable policy development multi-partyism was re-introduced in occurred after independence, in Ethnic favoritism and political patronage Kenya in 1991 have been marred by practice, not much changed. also played an important role in land land conflicts, violence and population acquisitions, as did . Given displacement. In an effort to deflect The fundamentals of the colonial land the role of powerful Kikuyu politicians the political threat of multi-partyism, tenure system remained in place, in Kenyatta’s government, the system President Moi portrayed the opposition including the unequal relationship favored wealthy Kikuyu (and their as Kikuyu-led and focused on controlling between statutory and customary land-buying companies) with political land. He evoked majimboism, which, tenure, the retention of de facto ethno- connections, at the expense of other while not fully or officially defined, territorial administrative units, and the ethnic groups, such as the Luo, Maasai was interpreted as a “get the land unaccountable powers of the and Kalenjin. Kikuyu gained access back issue.” To recover “stolen” land, branch over land. Kenyatta maintained to settlement scheme lands in Coast Kikuyu were evicted from areas where the system of freehold land titles and Province, , and other they had settled in the Rift Valley and did not question how the land had been locations across the country. Kenyatta western Kenya. Much of the violence acquired; individual private ownership himself illegally acquired large tracts of was centered in areas where so-called rights continued to derive from the settlement land. By 1989, “incomers” “immigrant” groups were located. sovereign—now the President— just as comprised 35% of the Rift Valley Clashes throughout the left in colonial times. Government programs population. Other ethnic groups were thousands of people dead and over to systematically adjudicate rights outraged, a source of long-term ethnic 350,000 displaced. Ethnically charged and register land titles persisted and animosities. land-grabbing further undermined continued to undermine customary customary tenure arrangements. tenure systems. Land tensions were exacerbated by Political manipulation of land grievances, President , Kenyatta’s however, helped Moi win elections in After independence, much of the successor, who held office from 1978 1992 and 1997. colonial-era “Crown Land” was until 2002. Moi is Kalenjin, one of categorized as government land. The Kenya’s smaller ethnic groups. Like native reserves became Trust land, Kenyatta, Moi used land to reward FACT but were still governed by statutory loyalists and achieve short-term political trustees—the County Councils and the ends. He offered sizeable parcels of Commissioner of Lands—rather than prime land in Trans Nzoia, Nandi, Uasin After independence, the directly by traditional institutions. New Gishu and other Rift Valley Districts to legislation required that the interests loyalists largely drawn from his Kalenjin basics of the colonial land of customary land occupiers should be community at well-below market tenure system remained in a primary concern affecting decisions prices. Much of this land had been in place, including the reten- to alienate or otherwise deal with Trust protected forest reserves or in the hands tion of de facto ethno- land, but, in practice, this land was of parastatals such as the Agricultural territorial administrative often treated as government land. Development Corporation (ADC) and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute units, and the unaccount- The Kenyatta government also (KARI). able powers of the execu- established the Settlement Fund tive branch over land. Trustees (SFT) to facilitate the purchase Meanwhile, a large number of landless and distribution of settler farms to or land-poor people (an estimated 10% landless Kenyans. The high-density of Kenya’s population in 1990), including settlements provided some land to many former Mau Mau militants, their landless households, but the schemes descendants and members of ethnic were based on a market system and groups residing on the coast, remained principally benefited Kenyans with the without land or compensation for financial means to purchase land. Those colonial-era and post- independence who had customarily owned the land alienations. Significant numbers of these generally did not have access to the landless or land-poor farmers have needed capital, or refused to purchase moved onto Kenya’s arid and semi-arid land which they considered to be theirs. lands, particularly in Rift Valley Province. Kenyans who purchased such land were This has led to land-use conflicts, seen as “immigrants” or “incomers.” competition over water and water Kenya: History of Land Conflicts 8 During the 2007 elections, accusations multi-partyism (and the constitutional protection of property ownership and use of irregularities sparked widespread referendum campaign) stem in large rights to those who acquired public land post-election violence from 30 December measure from unresolved and politically- illegally. It also authorizes repossession of 2007 to mid-2008 that left about 1,300 aggravated land grievances. Districts public lands illegally acquired by private people dead and as many as 600,000 with the highest percentage of land persons (Article 68(c)(v), read together displaced from their homes. For many expropriated by government or Trust with the ’s of those displaced, it was their third land (e.g., , Laikipia, Trans Nzoia, functions in Article 67(2)(e)). or fourth experience of displacement. Uasin Gishu, and ) have While some of the violence appeared to been the epicenters of violence over the Whether Kenya’s land conflicts be spontaneous, there were reports of past 15 years. Experts have estimated based on historical injustices will prior organization and planning. As in that some 95% of recent violence in the finally be addressed depends on how 1992 and 1997 elections, majimboism Rift Valley has occurred in areas where these Constitutional provisions are was evoked and historic land grievances settlement schemes are located. Simply implemented and enforced. In the were used to stir up ethnic tensions. focusing on facilitating the return of the coming years, the government is Violence was centered in areas where displaced, in the absence of efforts to expected to review existing laws in “immigrant” groups were located such address the underlying structural causes, light of the 2010 Constitution, and as the Rift Valley. A government enquiry risks creating the conditions for further prepare new legislation to implement into the violence noted that “there rounds of violence and displacement. the land provisions. Already, the was an expectation of the eviction of government has established several non- from South Rift In August 2010, Kenyans approved a new task forces to review existing long before the elections were held... Constitution which ushers in significant legislation, including one to review they expected that, as a result of changes to land governance and tenure. Kenya’s land laws. Further, the the enforcement of majimbo, other It states all land belongs to the people Ministry of Lands has developed a draft communities would have to leave the of Kenya, land is public, community Public Land Bill and a National Land Rift Valley.” or private, establishes a National Land Commission Bill which will soon be Commission, and allows non-citizens to made available for public comment. Most analysts believe the recurring hold land only on the basis of leasehold These developments are encouraging ethnic violence and displacement that tenure. To address land grievances, and bode well for Kenya’s future. have followed Kenya’s elections under the Constitution (Article 40(6)) denies

SOURCES

Judi W. Wakhungu, Chris Huggins and Elvin Nyukuri. 2008. “Land Tenure and Violent Conflict in Kenya.” African Centre for Technology Studies. Available online at: http://www.acts.or.ke/ reports/ RelatedResource/Land_Tenure_Brochure.pdf, accessed on 15 December 2010. Okoth-Ogendo, H.W.O. 1991. Tenants of the Crown: Evolution of Agrarian Law and Institutions in Kenya. African Centre for Technology Studies. Nairobi: ACTS Press.

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