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ABSTRACT
This article addresses political rights and identity among Il Chamus of Baringo District, Kenya, a small group of agro-pastoralists related to the Maasai. It discusses an important 2006 judicial ruling from the High Court of Kenya that specified a political constituency and national representation for the community, and shows how the state and its actions undermined its implementation. By examining the historical events and struggles leading up to the court ruling and the local violence associated with it, the article describes how Il Chamus have been forced to negotiate – even publically legislate – their histories and identities (indigeneity) to make claims to citizenship and territory. It concludes with a discussion of the impacts of the new 2010 constitution on the Il Chamus political movement and those of other minority and indigenous groups who have petitioned for increased political representation during the last two decades.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), “Landmark Ruling.”
2. Parts of this section are based on Little, “Masaai Identity,” 445–9; and Little, Political Economic Reform, 91–115.
3. Anderson, Eroding Commons; Little, Elusive Granary; and Spencer, Pastoral Continuum.
4. When I first worked in Baringo in 1980 almost none of my Kenyan colleagues had heard of Il Chamus, who at the time were known as Njemps.
5. Kenya Land Commission, Kenya Land Commission.
6. Greiner, “Guns, Land, Votes,” 228.
7. Food and Agricultural Organization, Survey Njemps Territory.
8. Nasong'o and Murunga, “Prospects for Democracy in Kenya,” 8.
9. Author's field notes, June 2007.
10. Nzioka, “Political Families.”
11. Pastoralists Hunter and Gatherers Ethnic Minority Network, Case Recognition.
12. Lynch, “Becoming Indigenous,” 25–8 and 41.
13. Hughes, “Malice Maasailand,” 209; and Hughes, Moving the Maasai.
14. Pseudonyms are used here and elsewhere in the article to protect the identity of respondents.
15. Little, Economic Political Reform, 100.
16. Author's field notes, June 2006.
17. Cultural Survival, “Maasai-led Grassroots,” para. 6.
18. Kadida, “Court Case.”
19. Kenya, Matter Il Chamus, 2.
20. Ibid.
21. Nowrojee, Kenyan Interviews, 1.
22. Author's field notes, June 2007.
23. Kenya, Matter Il Chamus, 18.
24. Ibid, 2–3, 9.
25. Okello, “Giant Step,” 1.
26. Author's field notes, June 2005.
27. Ibid., June 2006.
28. Ibid., June 2005.
29. Tilly, Coercion.
30. Author's field notes, June 2007.
31. See Greiner, “Guns, Land, Votes.”
32. Author's field notes, September 2008.
33. Thomson, Through Masai Land, 234.
34. Author's field notes, June 2007.
35. Kenya, Matter Il Chamus, 2.
36. Ibid.
37. Masibo, “Kenya: Njemps,” paras. 1–4.
38. Minority Rights Group, Kenya One Year On, 6.
39. Author's field notes, June 2007.
40. Ibid.
41. Lynch, “Becoming Indigenous,” 24–5.
42. Claridge, Landmark Ruling.
43. Author's field notes, June 2007.
44. Little, Economic Political Reform, 91–92.
45. I do not know if the meeting between the ECK member and the Attorney General ever occurred.
46. Author's field notes, June 2007.
47. Ogutu, “Njemps Case.”
48. Author's field notes, June 2007.
49. Masibo, “Kenya: Njemps,” para. 10.
50. Ibid.
51. For another East African example [Uganda] of the politics of ‘district creating,’ see Green, “Patronage, District Creation.”
52. Institute for Social Accountability, “New Districts.”
53. World Bank, Kenya: Executive Summary, vii.
54. Institute for Social Accountability, “New Districts.”
55. Ibid.
56. Author's field notes, September 2008.
57. Karume, “Kenya: Independent,” paras. 3–4.
58. Kenya, Matter Il Chamus.
59. Institute for Social Accountability, “New Districts”; and Wafula and Odunga, “Governors.”
60. East African Law Center for Justice, “Evolution.”
61. Hassan, “Politics Boundaries,” 6.
62. Daily Nation, “Kenya: Ilchamus,” para. 2.
63. Thuku, “Il Chamus IEBC,” paras. 17–21.
64. Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Preliminary Report, 117–20.
65. Mochongoi Division was formed by the Moi government in 1998 to make room for settlement by members of his Tugen community, and to punish his main political opponents, Kikuyu. The division was carved out of the Marmanet Forest zone near the Baringo/Laikipia District border. To the strong protests of Laikipia District's leaders, the state formally annexed the area at the expense of Laikipia's residents and their lands and placed the new division within Baringo District. See Little, Political Economic Reform, 95–97.
66. Thuku, “Il Chamus IEBC,” para. 5.
67. Minority Voices Newsroom, “Kenya: Court's Ruling,” paras. 10 and 19.
68. IEBC, Preliminary Report, 118.
69. Kipsang and Cheploen, “Ilchamus, Endorois,” para. 30.
70. Cheploen, “We'll Meet.”
71. Kipsang and Cheploen, “Ilchamus, Endorois,” para. 36.
72. Kipsang and Cheploen, “Ilchamus, Endorois,” paras. 1–4.
73. Author's field notes, June 2012.
74. Wanambisi, “Kenya: MPs Approve Land Commission,” para. 5.
75. The government even supported a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission during 2012–2013 to examine past injustices and violence, including the post-2007 election violence. However, the commission had no authority to enforce its endorsements, which included a recommendation that the government implement the court's ruling on an Il Chamus political constituency. See Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, Report.
76. Kipsang, “2,000 Displaced,” para. 1.