Residents of Laikipia district can prove that becoming a millionaire overnight is not a very rosy affair.
In 2002, about 1,500 people from Northern Kenya woke up to a thrilling reality. After several months of lobbying, the British Government had paid them close to Sh800 million, as compensation for injuries caused by landmines and other waepons used in training British soldiers.
“The money was distributed fairly depending on the intensity of the injury,” says Johnson Ole Kaunga of the Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation (IMPACT), the organisation which initiated a campaign that resulted in the compensation.
They all received amounts running into millions of shillings with the highest, Ilmolian Lekoriani, by then 12-years-old, getting Sh30 million for blindness caused by a landmine.
The day was a turning point either for the good or the worst for all of them. Some, especially women set up businesses from their fortune, which changed their lives for good.For most men, this was the opportune time to explore the world, get new wives, and discard old ones.
To date, only five years down the line, some of them have been reduced to beggars, roaming Nanyuki town, and poorer than they were originally.
“This money broke several marriages. Some women dumped their husbands for the new millionaires in the village, while men got married to several wives, who supposedly understood the ‘art of spending money’ at the expense of the older wives,” says Ole Kaunga.
As a result, many of the beneficiaries have since died after contracting what local elders call, ‘diseases of sin.’ However, the biggest beneficiaries were people under the age of 18, of who were categorised as children by the British Government, which invested the compensation on their behalf.
“For example, Lekoriani’s cash is still intact in a high yielding account managed by the British Government,” reveals Ole Kaunga.
The young boy is currently a student at a special school for the blind in Meru. His parents have been given access to some of his money, which is partly used for paying his school fees, and his upkeep.
Landmines are explosive devices concealed underground. There are two kinds of landmines: anti-personnel mines hurt or kill troops when triggered and are designed to explode in various ways, whereas anti-tank mines are designed to disable or destroy tanks and other large vehicles.
Most anti-personnel mines are small gadgets weighing between 100 grams to 2.5 kgs, and consist of an explosive and a detonator (a device that triggers an explosion). The explosive and detonator are packed in a case made of plastic, steel, wood, or even cardboard.
Most mines depend on the force of the explosive blast for their lethal effect. Other types have fragmenting cases similar to grenades that send out deadly metallic splinters.
Stepping on a pressure-sensitive button on the mine usually triggers the detonator. And this is what happened to most of the injured residents in Northern Kenya. In some cases, children while grazing could pick up the explosives without knowing the lethal implication contained therein.
Other mines use thin tripwires that extend outward from the mine on the surface. When a tripwire is disturbed, the detonator is triggered and the mine explodes.
Laying mines on land can be as simple as scattering around small matchbox-sized mines from a helicopter or airplane. But most land mines are buried by hand.
A trained 40-soldier team can lay 125 anti-tank or 600 anti-personnel mines per hour in daylight. Mine-laying vehicles can turn up the dirt, plant the mine, and cover the trench in one operation.
Despite evidence of the injured people in Northern Kenya, the Kenyan government through the former Minister of Defence, Njenga Karume has renewed its contract with the British Government, for the British army to continue training on Kenyan land.
The foreign soldiers have been accused of raping several Maasai and Samburu women in these areas. “Many families have broken up in these places after wives gave birth to children of mixed race. We are lobbying for the British Government to take responsibility,” says John Parmashu, the Councillor of Mukogodo ward in Laikipia North.
Timmy*(not his real name), 25, claims to be a living testimony of the alleged rape cases. “Look at me; I am neither a Briton nor an African. The Maasai people discriminate against me. They refused to circumcise me and denied me a chance to marry from their community. Yet I cannot fit in the British society. I am an outcast. My birth caused a divorce between my mother and her husband. And now she hates me. Where can I call home?” He laments with bitterness.
Several organisations in the area, together with residents are calling on the British Government to compensate the alleged rape survivors, but above all, they want the British soldiers out of the area.
Analysts feel that the issue should be treated very cautiously, in case of any compensation. “If this money is to be paid, there must be a lot of sensitisation and public education on how to invest,” proposes Simon Ole Kaparo, formerly of IMPACT.
