Isn't It Time To Put Pastoralists In Kenya's Development Agenda?

The direct economic contribution of pastoralism to the Kenyan economy (through the production of milk, meat, skins, hides, etc) cannot pass unnoticed. The 2009 National Census figures give credence to this.

Turkana County alone has (from 2009 figures) 1,534,612 cattle, 3,517,151 sheep, 5,994,861 goats, 832,462 camels, 558,187 donkeys...ad infinitum.

However, despite their economic contribution, there has been a fundamental misunderstanding of the pastoral production system in Kenya.

There is a general perception among policy makers (both at counties and national government) that pastoral lands are underused and therefore should be brought under plough or put to other uses such as ecotourism. 

Such misperceptions have subjected pastoral communities to economic and political marginalisation. Policies have favoured externally-imposed development schemes which often alienate and expropriate pastoral lands in favour of large-scale commercial activities.

The ongoing oil exploration in Turkana and Baringo and the large-scale farming under-way in Tana-River come to mind.

Resource alienation and curtailment of mobility has made pastoral households vulnerable to frequent droughts, food insecurity and famine.

Policy engagement by pastoralists on key environmental issues has been weak partly due to a lack of field-based empirical evidence on pastoral land alienation and destitution.

A case in point is the blatant disregard of pastoralists' migration patterns (in search of water and pasture) during mapping and designation of oil exploration blocks in Turkana County. Hitherto migratory routes have been closed to give room to oil exploration activities hence subjecting locals to the harsh reality of changing climatic conditions. 

It is, therefore, prudent that we establish a link between the escalating competition for pasture and water resources and curtailment of (pastoral) mobility due to oil exploration activities in the region.

Pastoralists have, for a long time, banked on unhindered mobility (moving from place to place) to cope up with harsh climatic conditions and the attendant risks arising from drought and famine.

Pastoralists are not against any venture that is geared to empowering and supporting them or in any way (to) exploit resources in their lands. What they demand is simple: mechanisms that respect their livelihoods and practices must be put in place. 

Again, there is a need to revisit the definition of pastoralism. Due to the narrow understanding of this, we have failed to appreciate the different production scenarios in pastoral lands which include pure pastoral systems, agro-pastoral systems and urban commercial systems.

These systems, if keenly examined, will reveal the long-held truism that solutions for these pastoral lands are grounded on the livelihoods of the people living there. What is needed is a responsive planning-action method for each of these systems.

Let’s take Turkana County as a case study. The southern zones of the county are dotted with rivers and water points and vast underused land fit for agriculture.

The central belt is mainly pastoral rangeland inhabited by “pure pastoralists” punctuated by some commercial centers. As you move to the north of the county, you are confronted with a marriage of pure pastoral systems and fishing activities (around Lake Turkana).

To connect these systems it carries weight to look at the existing pastoral land tenure system. Personally, I find this land tenure system faulty and unresponsive for it is premised on the narrow definition of pastoralism vis-à-vis land use.

At the core of it is the assumption that pastoral lands are purely “pastoral” and belong to no specific person. It is more “collective” than “individual”.

Little attention has been put to think of individual ownership of land, land demarcation and registration and the need to designate certain zones as grazing zones. The line between individual and group ownership of land is blurred.

This, without doubt, could be the reason for the friction between oil exploration companies operating in the region and locals.

These squabbles should not be mistaken for hostility to commercial interests in the region. They point to a weak policy foundation. The core of the problem lies in the policies that tend to rely on land use segregation and forceful dispossession of land, ignoring the rights of local communities.

To counter these, it is instructive that we all come up with coping strategies.

One. Oil exploration companies in collaboration with local leaders and communities must explore the need to set up livestock watering/grazing corridors in zones already under oil exploration. Availability of water and pasture is an integral aspect of a pastoralist life.

Two. Land use policies ought to be designed in a manner that promotes and protects individual ownership.

Three. Explore ways to sedentarise pastoralists. We must take advantage of the upsurge of petty trade and wage employment in trading centers to send a message to our people that there exists other sources of livelihood apart from livestock keeping.

Four. Use water as a magnate for urban development. Historically, most of the existing trading centers in the region started as watering points during dry seasons. This lends a reasonable ground to believe that developing water sector (dams, piping, distribution et al) can bring to a halt the seasonal exodus of our people in such of this commodity hence creating a solid urban sedentary foundation.

Five. Explore some “forceful” reintegration methods. This is the procedure: Set up grazing zones. Equip them. Make them as attractive as possible. Call in our pastoralist folks with a condition that they will adhere to the “operating rules” such as limiting their stock numbers and attending livestock-keeping lessons.

We have solutions. We have the wherewithal to actualize them. Time to do this is now.

Lemukol Ng’asike is an architect. E-mail: lemoseh89@gmail.com . Twitter : @mlemukol.

Of Sycophancy And Conscientious Politicking: Our Bane, Our Hope

Kenya Parliament

No matter how you look at it, the mother of all decisions rests on our ability to play around with information. This is more evident in governments, religion and business spheres where the ill-informed mass of followers survives at the mercies of the controlling class.

In this case, those with information at hand wield immense powers and influence to such levels that the gullible mass will stop at nothing to “protect” its controllers.

Kenya is no different from this. For no one can convince me that we are mature politically when we can't decipher our true role as citizens and by extension locate our rightful place in the pecking social-political order we call Kenya.

This is why we must rethink. Our democracy is founded on quick sand.

Democracies, we are told, thrive on "warfare" of thoughts channeled through an all-encompassing spectrum with a view to winning and moving along with the masses. The premise of this is simple and clear: it is to thrash, conquer and win the opponent plus his/her supporters without resorting to blows. 

The "tool of work" is robust thinking, foresight, persuasion and the ability to propel an idea to the wider public. Thus conscientious politicking.

It is commonplace to find several orientations in an all-time politically-charged society like ours with little or no understanding of what those groupings are or stand for. 

I came face-to-face with this reality in the last two weeks when I received a barrage of questions on what I understand by sycophancy, its genesis, dangers and if there is a possible way to confront it head-on.

These issues are germane to the Kenyan intelligentsia, social makeup and our comportment viz-à-viz politics. They, by far, define who we are and how we conduct our business.

I elect to look at sycophancy in two different perspectives. We, mere mortals, stand to be classified into two sub-groups. Either we possess the mind to think or we bank on the efforts of others to think for us.

It is universal truth that we aren't wholly self-sustaining. We depend on others - directly or indirectly - to scale the walls of life. This, at certain times, applies to the mind.

As thinking humans we are presumed to have the "original voice" and the "deciding vote" in matters that touch our very existence and survival. One of them is politics. 

At the center of this is the collective pursuit of mutual understanding. It is what gives credence to the concept of democracy we have gladly adopted and codified.

Sycophantic mind thrives not in such mentality. Sycophancy is inherently grounded in willful ignorance and the "power" to bewitch (dull) the minds hence the resultant effect of obeying all they read, hear or see. 

From which corner you look at it, it is evident that a sycophantic mind is a sworn enemy of facts and collective good. In this, information destined to the wider audience is the first victim. It is deliberately distorted, re-designed and propelled in a manner that the subject (master) looks more saintly than he is.

It is all for one solid reason: To advance individual interests. Anything public is mere talk.

Which brings us to the core of our talk. Sycophancy, just like conscientious politicking thrives on information. Information as a factor in itself can be used to empower or suppress a people. Survival of democracy - all over the world - depends on this.

Yet few of us appreciate this simple truism. We have countered sycophancy by sycophancy. We have taken leave of our senses and adopted the philosophy of our masters. This is the far we have “advanced” our democracy. Poor Kenya!

Isn't it possible to deviate from this and inculcate a new thinking among ourselves?

When two extremes fail to strike a balance it behooves for a third force to exert its position and seek relevance.

Look at the anatomy of the two extremes. They have maintained a stranglehold over the tools of communication and public discourse. They know that no people-unfriendly system prospers by ceding control of information to the governed. That there is always room to tinker information to keep the people mute.

Awareness premised on hot-air is a farce. It must be remembered that at the top of our priorities as human beings is our individual well-being. It is therefore foolhardy for any right-thinking person to isolate the daily needs of lowest of the low.

The third force must provide solutions to them. Lamentations and endless condemnations alone won’t win their hearts.

I am convinced that there is still room to make amends. It is time we looked at how to strengthen and expand the Third Way. This is our hope!

Lemukol Ng’asike is an architect. Twitter: @mlemukol. E-mail: lemoseh89@gmail.com. 

RETHINKING NAIROBI CITY AND OTHER URBAN CENTERS

Nairobi City

There is no doubt that Nairobi city has many lessons to offer, both in terms of spatial management and responsive planning (or lack of it) viz-a-viz the city's complexities arising from a ballooning population, rural and slum poverty, scarce water resources, unreliable revenue-base for the county government and diminishing land within the city proper.

Kenya's development initiative - from a policy perspective - has always been based on the dichotomy between 'rural' and 'urban' areas, populations and activities (economic, political or social).

This is visible in the division of spatial and sectoral lines, with urban policy makers and implementers, in most cases, concentrating on "urban-like" initiatives and paying scant attention to the unplanned sprawl at the periphery of our cities.

Tellingly, this thinking has ignored the rural-urban interaction that makes the latter inherently dependent on the former. 

Take poverty for instance. Though Nairobi's low-income areas are ethnically composed, which is of course an element in Kenya's "socio-tribal solidarity", poverty still remains the common thread joining these neighbourhoods.

A look into the ethnic-distribution in these areas leads to another critical point. Household poverty stemming from opportunities present/absent in the "countryside" is the leading reason for rural-urban exodus. And this is manifested in the ethnic composition in our slums. 

For a fact, it is hard to find a Kalenjin in Nairobi's shanties. Could this be linked to abundance of economic opportunities in their backyard? Some clever chaps out there can help open our eyes.

This clearly demonstrates that low household poverty levels at the countryside have a direct impact on urban areas’ progress.

Without prejudice to the brains behind this policy push, it carries weight to state that gentrification will remain inescapable in our cities for a long time to come.

The genesis of this "(under)development concept" is simple: the city sheriffs visit a low-income section of the city, introduce a developer/investor to this gullible mass, displace its occupants and (then) construct flats as a "response to biting housing needs in the city." 

Such interventions are premised on the unfounded logic that only high-earning city dwellers can power the economic wheel of the city. 

As a nation, we have failed to grasp - and internalize - the basics. Low-income sections are an urban reality all over the world. It will be willful deception for city sheriffs to ignore the contributions of these pockets to the city's progress.

Some interventions demand few coins to achieve. Look at the street families "menace". Instead of having them locked up in detention centers, why not organize them in "communities/groups" led by one of their own and offer them some jobs, say cleaning streets and collecting garbage?

Of importance to Nairobi is the need to address the flow of information first within its limits; that is, with greater emphasis on low-income sections and secondly, the flow of information viz-a-viz outlying rural areas that feed the city's slum population.

Nairobi city is a victim of many years of over-concentration of economic interests in urban areas. Rural areas were relegated as breeding areas for the booming industrial-workforce needed in cities.

With the advent of devolution, it is prudent to nurture a new paradigm that puts more emphasis on developing rural outposts. 

This thinking needs to overcome the traditional separation between rural and urban planning. It must avoid generalizations and be grounded in the specifics of the regional/county contexts.

One of the most important points to bear in mind is that the potential for rural-urban linkages to contribute to poverty reduction - and in turn scale down rural-urban exodus - will only be realized if measures are taken to address wider social inequalities, such as information flow.

Another sticking point is the issue of "rural" activities taking place in urban centers (such as agriculture) and activities often classified as "urban" (such as manufacturing and services) taking place in rural areas. 

The folks in Nairobi's slums, for instance, operate on "ruralised" urban concept despite existing city regulations and by-laws banning such activities as animal rearing within the city. 

Which begs the questions: why has it taken long for "city fathers" to seek ways of creating a conducive environment for such activities knowing very well that a significant city population depends on them for survival? In whose interest is a by-law that criminalises such activities?

The view that everything “urban” should remain “urban” and anything “rural” should remain as such is in fact a borrowed concept which responds not to our present urban dynamics. It is totally discriminative.

Nairobi city, as a matter of principle, must redefine its leanings for it to realize a meaningful all-inclusive development head-start especially now that counties wield immense powers and influence in urban development.

Lemukol Ng’asike is an architect. Twitter: @mlemukol.  E-mail: lemoseh89@gmail.com

I'M BEHOLDEN TO THESE WOMEN BECAUSE OF MY MOTHER

Turkana girl 

In so many times, I have been asked to explain the nexus between women and my (philosophical, intellectual...) leanings as underpinned in my opinions and writings. My observers (and critics) have boldly pointed out that I have a soft-spot for women. That I talk much of them to levels reminiscent of "sworn women defenders". 

I have, in many occasions, resorted to oral answers. This, I admit, has not been an efficient tool to use to address this pregnant question more conclusively with a view to reaching and convincing many "silent" observers out there.

It is for this reason that I write this piece in order to respond to these thought-provoking queries. To quench my observers' thirst and (to) soften that hard spot that "my women-leaning views" have caused. 

You see, this isn't about apologies. Instead, it is about setting the record straight. It is about clearing mental bushes and winning more souls, more muscles to the side of those at the periphery of our social-political-economic fences.

Women - both collectively and individually - are an integral aspect of any nation's success. They represent a silent majority that shoulders, albeit many shortcomings, the malaise of our works. As such, a critical look into their travails and all connected benefits and challenges come in handy for all to grasp the truism of women empowerment.

I'm beholden to women - more so rural, information-thirsty, disempowered ones - because of my mother. I was introduced to them through her interactions as women's leader.

Through her I came face-to-face with the realities of a rural woman loaded with visions of success but chained by lack of vital information and economic wherewithal to move mountains and let go her many challenges.

I came to discover that men are not just players ( in the realization of these visions), but true and immediate beneficiaries of bold-hearted, bellyful empowered women. 

Sincerely speaking, my father (may his soul rest in peace) would attest to this. 

Thus my point: the enemy of men is the oppressor of women. To free women is to unchain men. To achieve this, we must start from somewhere. We must lay down the first foundation stone.

Which leads us to the center of our answer. Barriers to women empowerment is premised on our entrenched "man-ness", the fear that women would stage a "soft coup" against men and more clearly, misinformation and outright fallacies being peddled around viz-a-viz women empowerment.

Opposition to women emancipation is rooted on the shallow understanding of the subject matter on the side of men and their ilk (women included).

Hence the questions: What is wrong with educating women, imparting business skills on poor, information-hungry, economically-cornered, rural and/or slum mothers, fighting life-threatening "cultural" practices that only serve to cement the perception that women are objects that can only be rated by the shape and composition of their genitalia? Is this sidelining man?

Of great concern is to seek ways of restoring hope and livelihoods of the invisible, voiceless, faceless millions wallowing in abject poverty out there. Of importance is to petition governments to recognize the rights of women to possess land. It is this that makes people who they ought to be. This is the route to a dignified life.

This, my people, is achievable. We are capable of tapping into the visions, energies, resilience and humility of our women and come out with something productive for the benefit of all.

We have the means to cut the distances covered by our rural women in search of water. 

For your information, responding to the immediate but biting needs of women is the central pillar of women empowerment. This is what we have refused to understand and practice!

It must be remembered that a conscious world - and in particular, conscious men - must root for women. The world must stand with - and for - women. The world must discover new ways of truly integrating this segment of our population. 

To remain unmoved is to negate our own existence. To support women does not mean to fight men. It is complimenting his role and place in the society. 

We must right the wrongs of the past. Let's venture into those dark corners of our neighbourhoods and reach out to these people. 

A happy emboldened woman is a blessing to all. She is the foundation of a strong global edifice.

Lemukol Ng'asike is an architect. Twitter: @mlemukol. E-mail: lemoseh89@gmail.com.