Equality v Security

Every person in Kenya is equal before the law and deserves the equal protection of the law. There is no basis for persons facing similar situations to be treated differently by state agencies or organs. Equality for the law cannot be jettisoned at the altar of safety or security. Neither can equal protection of the law. If one is the victim of a crime, the state cannot purport to mitigate the offense without punishing the offender. These principles, enshrined in the Constitution, as they were in the former Constitution, are being ignored in order to pacify a political class, or a section of a political class, that has been at the forefront of impunity since Independence.

In Mau Narok, a section of the Maasai community is violently opposed to a plan by the state o resettle IDPs in land they consider 'theirs' arguing that the state cannot use force to resettle these IDPs while they continue to own land n other parts of the country. Their argument is that the state should use the same amount of force to ensure that these people are restored to their rightful properties, regardless of the 'feelings of the communities that had evicted them in the first place. They argue that the freedom to own and hold property anywhere in Kenya is useless if the government will not safeguard this freedom. An American president once stated that those who wold sacrifice liberty for security would have neither. This is a truth that President Kibaki's government better take to heart.

When Mwai Kibaki was sworn in at dusk in 2007, it set off a chain reaction whose effects are still being felt today. Thousands upon thousands were driven from their homes in the dead of night, accused of being Fifth Columns of rival political parties and blamed for the losses suffered by the other side. Many have died while many continue to live in abject conditions in IDP camps, refugees in their own country without a place to call home. The so-called peace and reconciliation committees have done nothing to restore these families to their homes. The government has not helped the situation by remaining divided on the question of resettlement. Parliament has not helped, failing time and again to hold the Executive to account for the manner in which monies allocated to the resettlement exercise have been spent.

Now we have the spectre of agents of the Executive using deadly force to resettle a section of the IDPs in locations where historical issues are yet to be addressed. The Maasai in Kenya, as in the greater East Africa, suffered grossly under the corrupt practices of the British colonists. They were swindled of their land and Kenyatta's, Moi's and Kibaki's governments have done nothing to redress the evils that were perpetrated against them. It is he duty of the Executive to uphold and defend our rights; these rights cannot be abrogated in order to satisfy the political needs of a few. The right thing to do, regardless of the consequences, is to restore to the IDPs the land that they lost, their homes and farms.