• The senator lauded President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for the handshake that has healed the country leading to the BBI process.
Image: COURTESY
Narok Senator Ledama Olekina has said the community must stand firm to protect their land and territory as leaders from the Maa community.
Protesting that members from the community were not from a lesser god, Olekina said they had been terrorized and stigmatized.
“The community’s issues will be articulated by the Maasai people,” Olekina said.
He spoke during the Building Bridges Initiative Forum in Narok County on Saturday.
“We are very hospitable, we have invited everybody to this meeting. We must stand firm to protect our land and territory,” Olekina added.
Olekina added, “Are we children of a lesser god? Why have we become the target of everybody?”
He said that as a community they had serious issues which the BBI has given them an opportunity to present.
“We have serious issues, BBI has given us the opportunity to say everything that is ailing us. Land use policy has been violated in Narok, nobody is getting a change of use of their land,” Olekina said.
The senator lauded President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for the handshake that has healed the country leading to the BBI process.
He said that the Maa community’s land is agricultural and must remain such, shouldn’t be subdivided without following the due Constitutional process.
“On matters of food security, what will our people eat if you take our land. They must remain as agricultural land, use legitimate process if you want to subdivide them,” Olekina said.
“So long as I live, I will pursue justice for these people who I represent.,” he said.
Olekina also criticized the way how the government allocates money to the community stating that it uses 2009 census thereby making them receive less funding from the treasury.
He said the Maa community has a population of 1.15 while the government uses 653,000 population to allocate the funds.
Olekina said they will get Sh8 billion if right population figures were used.
The senator made the remarks days after he was condemned by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission for the statements he made on national television.
During an interview in JKL on Wednesday night, the senator said the upcoming Building Bridges Initiative rally in Narok will be about the Maa community.
Olekina had said two groups held meetings separately to articulate on issues to be addressed during the rally.
"In the morning, those who are non-Maasai held a meeting in Rongai. We held our meeting at the Maasai Lodge. We were there to articulate on our issues," Olekina said.
"Maasai issues will be better articulated by Maasais and am not going to apologise for that."
The senator further said that the meeting will only address issues affecting the entire Maa counties, which he alleged have been 'terrorised and stigmatised' for a long time.
Olekina was responding to his counterpart from Kericho County Aaron Cheruiyot who said a non-Maasai leader was barred from the meeting.
Senator Cheruiyot protested the exclusion saying that all the communities residing in the region should be included.
Olekina said part of the proposals to be submitted to the BBI team on Saturday includes the reservation of Maasai land.
"Maasai land should be reserved for the Maasai land and food security," Olekina said.
Ole Kina's comments caught the attention of Kenyans on social media who condemned him for being tribal.
NCIC has also asked Kenyans to maintain peace and to continue engaging in the BBI process even as it continues looking into the matter.