Their word is taken as law. They are feared and respected at the same time. They are the village elders.
For a long time, they have been rendering voluntary services, paying themselves by imposing fines, sometimes hefty ones, on errant villagers.
Their work entails mobilising locals for meetings, disseminating information on behalf of the Government, informing authorities of happenings in their areas and helping identify crooks at the grassroots.
Village elders, headmen or wazee wa mtaa as they are popularly known, are the eyes of the Government at the grassroots. They also help in vetting of national identity cards applicants.
On Wednesday Parliament thought that village elders needed some recognition. But long before then their immense powers were felt in villages and hamlets.
Among the Luhya, the headmen, known as we liguru or amakuru had songs composed in their praise by famed musician Jacob Luseno. Their power of harassing villagers by taking whatever they see fit -- some form of extortion -- is well documented in the song.
They pick anything in the homestead, if they found the suspect who had been accused of a crime missing -- anything that would make an offender present himself before the headmen.
They walk in groups and solve the issues in groups, although some of them are greedy enough to issue threats and act unilaterally.
Now the august House is set to come up with a formal structure to give the village elders some recognition, which of course, will be accompanied by some perks.
The House has proposed the setting aside of Sh1.2 billion to service the headmen in 6,612 sub-locations (as per the 1999 census) in the country.
The number of headmen varies from between five and 30 from one sub-location to another, and it will be interesting to see how the Sh1.2 billion per year will be divided among them.
In Mombasa’s Tononoka Location, for instance, there are 16 village elders currently paid Sh300 twice a month as sitting allowance during vetting of ID applicants.
On Thursday, the headmen were a happy lot as they were used during mobilisation for an anti-malaria campaign of which they were to earn some extra allowances.
In most areas, village elders are retirees or people over the age of 50 who are authoritative, respected and with no criminal record. They resolve land boundary issues, fights and other domestic problems.
Although the practice of having village headmen solve problems stems from the African traditions, the practice is slowly being shunned as more people get educated. Most of the locals would prefer to go directly to the police rather than through the village elders. But in rural communities, the headmen still hold some clout.
The headmen work on a schedule. They have days set aside for briefing the assistant chief, who is the appointing authority, days when they meet to settle disputes and days when they just visit homesteads to “feel” the pulse of the villages.
They are involved in solving domestic issues such as arbitrating in troubled marriages, sub-division of ancestral land and even overseeing inheritance.
Besides, issues to do with good neighbourliness are also tackled by the elders. If animals trespass and destroy a neighbour’s crops, the headmen come in handy in sorting out the issue. They also assist in resolving debts.
The speed with which they solve the cases make them the best option for the villagers. However, they are now being replaced by the police and courts, as the Government security agents penetrate the country’s corners.
Also, their influence has been undermined by some penalties, which villagers perceive as light.
Hitherto, their influence was felt when young men went looking for their signatures, during their search for identity cards.
The Government bureaucracy in the ID card acquisition permits the assistant chief exercise his authority based on the advice of the headmen.
By amending the law to spell out guidelines on the remuneration of village elders, Parliament now has to streamline the appointment of villager elders.
Nowadays, after vetting by the assistant chief and the sitting council of elders, a person is admitted to the council of elders, and is ready to handle disputes on behalf of the people. Yesterday, Livestock assistant minister Adan Duale said village elders were crucial in resolving disputes in pastoralist areas.
The style of grassroots management, the Dujis MP said, has succeeded in countries like Saudi Arabia where the village elders are called Sheikhs, in Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.
Mr Duale said in northern Kenya empowered village elders could be used to cut excessive powers of chiefs and district officers.
“Most chiefs and DOs in pastoralist areas are former administration policemen and take sides and bribes during resolution of disputes.
Corruption can be checked if we have reputable village elders,” he said, adding that the elders could also help end nepotism, favouritism and act as the bridge between government and people.
Keiyo South MP Jackson Kiptanui said most of the decisions made by village elders in his constituency were recognised by chiefs.
“The elders usually do more work than the chiefs and their assistants as they are available 24 hours daily,” he said.
He said paying the elders some fee will motivate them and boost the war on crime, illegal logging and other evils in society.
“The elders are key in the fight against crime as they interact with and know virtually everybody in the village,” Mr Kiptanui said. The assistant minister regretted that failure by the Government to remunerate the chiefs made some of them take bribes.
On Wednesday MPs were concerned that the elders do not receive any form of payment and unanimously passed a motion appreciating the role they play.
Moved by Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa (Saboti, PNU), the motion sought permission of the House to introduce amendments to the Chief’s Act to create offices of village elders and provide for requirements for appointment and remuneration.
