Land! A Basis Of Revolution

[Baba Ahmed]

23 Jan 2005 - Greetings of continual soundness of thought, speech and actions in this long journey, unlike any before us born and reared in Amerikkka. Til the times that we bcome constant for consistency and constancy, in my opinion, equals STEADFAST UPRIGHTEOUSNESS. Doctored by virtually a "new people," different histories, locations and most of all: geography.

In that light lets look at an Elder's report on Land Tenure in his resting place and near surroundings: Kenya and the Kongo. Often we see as if they're interchangeable the terms Communism/Socialism and Communialism of Afrika in its vastness of area size, lengths of coastlines and only the unseen gods know the dizzy'n varieties of languages and dialects. Many say that land tenure in Afrika, again as if this Continent had/has one system. So I report this article not to establish one type of land tenure as the one and only type in Afrika. Principles are my concern. I see no "need" to re-create, e.g., exactly what our Ancient Ancestors did. Nor to transplant in to-to life styles of our recent traditional cultures, as we go on to build institutions in the concrete, steel, and glass cities of Amerikkka. Revolution is processed, in stages. This piece is from Jomo Kenyatta's Facing Mt. Kenya. After having given a passed down story of the Gikuyu* beginnings, he's speaking to a Southward movement by his people.

"In studying the Gikuyu tribal organisation it s necessary to take into consideration land tenure as the most important factor in the social, political, religious, and economic life of the tribe. As
agriculturalists, the Gikuyu peole depend entirely on the land. It supplies them with the material needs of life, through which spiritual and mental contentment is achieved. Communion with the ancestral spirits is perpetuated through contact with the soil in which the ancestors of the tribe lie buried. The Gikuyu consider the earth as the 'mother' of the tribe, for the reason that the mother bears her burden for about eight or nine moons while the child is in her womb, and then for a short period the child is in her womb, and then for a shor period of suckling. But it is the soil that feeds the child through lifetime; and again after death it is the soil that nurses the spirits of the dead for eternity. Thus the earth is the most sacred thing above all that dwell in or on it. Among the Gikuyu the soil is especially honoured, and an everlasting oath is to swear by the earth (koirugo).

Owing to the importance attached to the land the system of land tenure was carefully and ceremonially laid down, so as to ensure to an individual or a family group a peaceful settlement on the land they possessed. According to the Gikuyu customary law of land tenure every family unit had a land right of one form or another. While the whole tribe defended collectively the boundary of their territory, every inch of land within it had its owner.

"....The Ndorobo established friendly relations with the Gikuyu, and, as the people continued to move southwards, land transactions started between the two tribes who lived side by side. The Ndorobo were not interested in cultivating the land, their main occupation was hunting and collecting wild honey in the forests. Apart from land transactions they traded with the Gikuyu. By barter they sold their honey and skins of animals ot the Gikuyu, who in turn gave the Ndorobo grains, yams, sugar-canes, bannas, and other fruits of the soil.

As the time went on the Gikuyu, who had not enough land to cultivate in the congested areas, started to buy lands from the Ndorobo. All the lands which were bought in this way were held under private ownership or as a family joint property. In fact, there was not in any part of the Gikuyu, as far as memory goes, any land that belonged to everybody, or what is called 'no man's land.' The term 'communal or tribal ownership of land has been misused in describing the land, as though the whole of it was owned collectively by every member of the community.

The Gikuyu defended their country collectively, and when talking to a stranger they would refer to the country, land, and everything else as 'ours,' boroi wiito or borori wa Gikuyu, to show the unity among the people. But the fact remained that every inch of the Gikuyu territory had its owner, with the boundary properly fixed and everyone respecting his neighbour's. In the Report on the Gikuyu Land Tenure, paragraph 22, it is recorded that: '-----there are several places in the Nyeri and Fort Hall districts where one may stand and see more than a thousand acres at a stretch with scarcely and acre uncultivated, and the disputes which occur, though complicated and troublesome, are surprisingly few.' In the former days no man could dare go and cultitvate another man's land without first obtaining the necessary permission from the righful owner or owners. The sense of private property vested in the family was highly developed among the Gikuyu, but the form of private ownership in the Gikuyu community did not necessarily mean the exclusive use ot the land by the owner, or the extorting of rents from those who wanted to have cultivation or building rights. In other words, it was a man's pride to own a property and his enjoyment to allow collective use of such property. This sense of hospitality which facilitated the communal use of almost everything, has been mistaken by the Europeans who misinterpreted it by saying that the land was under the communal or tribal ownership, and as such the land must be mali ya serikali, which means Government property. Having coined this new terminology of land tenure, the British Government began to drive away the original owners of land."

Baba note: I'm recalling having read about the "lauded" Pilgrims landing in what's now called New England regions. Upon being hospitalably received by the local inhabitants, the agents of the "Crown" marveling at all of the open lands that appeared not only unoccupied but also looked uncultivated. They had/have a legal terminology that we today know as "Eminent Domain," and meant it was the King's land. From that basis here, in South America, the Caribbean, Central America etc; in Australia, Azania and recall the Berlin Conference of 1884 that artificially divided Mama Afrika they fulfilled their Biblical edict: that after being fruitful and multiplying their numbers, to conquer and subdue the lands!!! That imo speaks to their view of communal lands w/o private ownerships. Not the Gikuyu's.

*Jomo Kenyatta in Facing Mt. Kenya, reminds us that Gikuyu is the proper term and not Kikuyu. He says, "According to the tribal legend, we are told that in the beginning of things, when mankind started to populate the earth, the man Gikuyu, the founder of the tribe, was clled by the Mogai (the Divider of the Universe), and was given as his share the land with ravines, the rivers, the forests, the game and all the gifts that the Lord of Nature (Mogai) bestowed on mankind. At the same time Mogai made a big mountain which he called Kere-Nyaga (Mount Kenya), as his resting-place when on inspection tour, and as a sign of his wonders. He then took the man Gikuyu to the top of the mountain of mystery, and showed him the beauty of the country that Mogai had given him. While still on the top of the mountain, the Mogai pointed out to the Giduyu a spot full of fig trees (mikoyo), right in the centre of the country. After the Mogai had shown the Gikuyu the panorama of the wonderful land he had been given, he commanded him to descend and establish his homestead on the selected place which he named Mokorwe wa Gathanga.

[Baba Ahmed]

"In dealing with the private ownership of land...when the Gikuyu people started to move southward and established contact with the Ndorobo, from whom the land, especially in South Gikuyu, was bought. Before this time, although some form of private ownership of land existed, the system was not so obvious, as there was no property exchanged in acquiring the possession of the land. In the first place the land was given to the Gikuyu by the Mogai, the Lord of Nature. Secondly, by the fact that the Gikuyu was the first to establish his homestead on the land. Thirdly, that when the people started to multiply and to form their own individual family groups, each family group pegged out a portion of the forest and reserved the first rights of cultivation and hunting therein. In those days the claim of having cleared the original forest was the basic principle of absolute ownership of land. In other words, a man acquired the right to own the land through the labour he spent in developing it. For this reason it was necessary for the whole family to join forces in order to clear sufficient land for their present and future needs. Fourthly, when the land which the Mogai had given to the Gikuyu was thickly populated and no more forests left to be pegged out, people moved towards the forest in the south. Here, the forests having been owned by the Ndorobo, there was no possibility of a man just going into the forest and establishing his claim by merely clearing the original forest. This being the case, the Gikuyu who were anxious to own the land, on seeing that the Ndorobo were willing to sell, at once started to purchase it. Thus a new form came into being, of owning the land by purchase, instead of owning by acquiring the first rights of hunting or clearing the original forests.

In order to clarify the two systems last mentioned, under which the lands were acquired, let us take the words from the Report on the Gikuyu Land Tenure issued in 1929. In paragraph 24 the following statement is made: 'It is most interesting to consider why it is that the tribal theory is in most respects intact in Nyeri and Fort Hall, while in Kiambu it has been modified greatly in favour of the individual owner-cultivator and the sectional head.'

The reason for this difference is that in Nyeri and Fort Hall there hardly existed any land transaction between the Gikuyu and Ndorobo, and even if any purchase of land from the Ndorobo had taken place in these districts it would have happened so far in the remote past that the incident has faded from the memory of the present generation. Most probably there were no Ndorobo in either Fort Hall or Nyeri, for the Mokorwe wa Gathanga, the place where the Gikuyu are believed to have originated, is somewhere in these districts. If that is so, htere could not have been any land transactions between the Gikuyu in the two districts and the Ndorobo, unless there is evidence to prove that both the Gikuyu and the Ndorobo roiginated at the same place. But as far as we are aware, there is no such evidence in the tribal historical legends.... At the same time there are single families who bought the land, and as they have not yet increased to form a clan unit the land is still in the hands of the first purchaser, and as such he has the rights of private ownership.

Facing Mt Kenya, pp 27-29