Ab-Titchaz
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 30, 2008
- 14,630
- 4,253
- Thread starter
- #41
Mkuu ITEGAMATWI,
kuna hii makala naomba uisome maana inakupa a deeper understanding ya malalamiko ya hawa
mabwana wa MRC na kwa nini their argument holds no water.
DOCUMENT PROVE THERE IS NO BASIS FOR MRC SECESSION AGENDA
Saturday, October 20, 2012 - 00:00 -- BY WESONGA OCHI
1. Truth about the treaty, agreement on the coastal strip and secession agenda
As the government intensifies the war against Mombasa Republican Council, the truth about the secession agenda being fronted by the group may be far from the truth if the documents accessed by the Star are anything to go by.
The star managed to access documents in the custody of Abdilahi Nassir, one of the delegates who was party to the talks between the then British colonial powers, Kenya colony and Kenya protectorate officials who participated at the Lancaster House, Nairobi and Mombasa talks around 1962.
According to the agreement signed between the then Kenyan Prime Minister Kenyatta and the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1963 and seen by the star on Wednesday, Coast was to be permanently part of Kenya but the interests of the Arab community were to be protected.
The interests included retention of Muslim law, freedom of worship and continued teaching and spread of the Muslim religion. Others included recognition of the then land freehold titles which had been registered. They were to remain recognised at all times.
This meant that all those with freehold titles by then and after independence, despite their origin, were to be recognised as the owners of the lands they occupied- the reason for the many absentee landlords in the region.
This is contrary to the push for secession by the MRC formed in 2005 after the coast region was plunged into marginalisation. The marginalisation according to MRC and anyone who has attempted to talk about it ranges from land issues to unemployment and poor education standards that have bedeviled the coast region for so long.
The document further indicates that the only surviving persons who attended the Lancaster talks are the former president Daniel Arap Moi, Sheikh Abdilahi Nassir and Omar Salim Bassadik.
The agreement between the then Kenyan Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta and the prime minister of Zanzibar Mohamed Shamte under whose Kenya protectorate (coastal strip) fell, speaks contrary to the demands of the MRC.
Neither the Kenya government nor MRC leaders have been able to demystify this idea satisfactorily. According to Abdilahi, none of them has the documents of the agreements right.
"You have been giving this people a lot of coverage to the extent of endangering your life and theirs as well. No one has facts on this issue," said his son, Stambuli Abdilahi when the star caught up with him in Mombasa's Old town.
The exchange of letters between Kenyatta and Mohamed Shamte on diverse in October 1963 tells it all. The agreement is binding and even rules out the issue of secession as being demanded by MRC.
The exchange of letters resulted in an agreement signed on October 5, 1963 stating that when Kenya becomes independence in two months to follow (December 12, 1963), the territories comprised in the Kenya protectorate shall cease to be part of his highness dominions and shall thereupon form part of Kenya.
The agreement further states that the agreements of June 12, 1890 in so far as it applies to those territories and agreements of December 14, 1895 shall cease to have effect.
Parties to the agreement at Marlborough house in London on October 8, 1963 are Dancun Sandys representative of British government, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Sayyid Jamshid Bin Abdulla sultan of Zanzibar and Mohamed Shamte, the prime minister of Zanzibar.
The issue of expiry of the agreement or the said treaty as being fronted by MRC does not feature in the documents availed to the star by one of the participants in the pre and post colonial talks about coastal strip.
A delegation of the Digo National Union that went to visit Sir James Robertson, the then commissioner appointed by the queen of England and sultan of Zanzibar rejected the issue of coastal autonomy-secession.
Robertson had been appointed as a commissioner to seek views of how the two parts the Kenyan colony and the Kenya protectorate wished to be governed after the merger.
At a meeting with Robertson's on Wednesday October 18 1961 at 11 am at Government House in Mombasa, the Digo National Union rejected the issue of separation in totality.
Minutes of that meeting reveals the delegation led by late Shughuli Hamadi with late Juma Boy as the translator agreed that all the races now living at the coast including Europeans, Asian, Arabs and Africans could live together peacefully if the coast became part of Kenya. This brings into sharp focus the intention of the formation of MRC with Kwale County (Digo land) as its epicenter.
2. History of marginalisation and land problem at the coast
Abubakar Yusuf, a lawyer and political analyst from the region also confirms that the Mijikenda were initially opposed to secession as he tries to demystify the origin and history of marginalisation.
The history of marginalisation and land problems at the coast according Abubakar dates back as far as from pre and post independent Kenya.
He says the Mijikenda felt marginalized when the Swahili and Arab communities were given preferential treatment by sultan of Zanzibar and subsequently by the British colonial government.
"The sultan did not treat the Mijikenda equally, he preferred his people and relegated the Mijikenda to servants, perhaps that is why they have been in conflict all long," says Abubakar.
Abubakar also says that when the British came, they followed the same trend of sidelining the Mijikenda community who formed the ‘indigenous' coastal communities.
The Mijikenda through the Digo National Union opposed the secession issue and decided to team up with the rest of Kenya thinking their problems could be addressed by doing so.
This resulted into misgivings and hatred that has been there all along between Arabs and the Mijikenda. The same continued even after independence with access to land by Mijikenda curtailed by the rich Arabs from the region.
They have suffered all along and after independence, the Mijikenda and the Swahili Arabs from the region suffered a similar problem, and up to date, they have similar atrocities according to Abubakar.
Abubakar adds that, "The Kenyatta, Moi and now Kibaki regimes followed suit and this has dissatisfied coastal people. "This has prompted the Mijikenda to join the struggle of secession just like their Arab counterparts in pre-independent Kenya. But they are at the forefront because they have suffered the most," says Abubakar.
According to Abubakar, this is the reason the likes of Mwamunuadzi, Rashid Mraja, Randu Ndzai (Mijikendas) and the rest through MRC are at the forefront to lead secession of the coast region unlike during pre-independence when their fore fathers opposed it.
3. MRC grievances and local leader's sentiments
The MRC is said to be agitating for the rights of indigenous coastal people at the same time pushing for secession of the coastal region, contrary to the agreement signed between the Kenyan government and sultan of Zanzibar about the governance of the Kenyan protectorate months to independence.
Among the MRC's grievances is that coast region has been marginalized since independence where the indigenous have been rightfully denied their access to land, rampant unemployment and poor education facilities.
MRC chairman, now in custody Omar Mwamunuadzi brands the group a people's liberation movement that will salvage them from the perennial atrocities they have experienced for decades. Mwamunuadzi et al, sees secession as the only way the coastal people can save themselves from the problems.
He says successive government and leadership at the coast have done little to address their plight hence the push for secession. The group has gone to the extent of collecting national identity cards from the citizens at the Coast in preparion for a ‘new country' which according to the Kenya law is treasonable.
The Mwamunuadzi-led group has also declared that there will no election at the coast and that holding election would deem coast to be part of Kenya still.
The group has also been linked to various criminal activities in the region among them disrupting the mock elections in Malindi early this year.
Attacks on Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission's officers in different parts of the coast and a major attack on IEBC office in Msambweni, is another incident which criminalises the group.
The incidents that prompted the government to now take action against the group are the recent events which saw a group of youth cornered in a Kaloleni forest taking oaths.
The incidence was followed by the killing of an administration police officer in Tiribe, Kwale where 18 youth were arrested taking part in an oathing ceremony.
In one of the forests in Msambweni, what is said to be the MRC flag was mounted in the forest where the youth are said to have been undergoing military training.
Cabinet minister Amason Kingi was also attacked by people who claimed to be members of MRC in Mtwapa. He lost his bodyguard in the attack.
The pressure by MRC has been aggravated the fact that coastal leaders have publicly admitted that the region has indeed been marginalised. A section of the MPs from coast have, however, opposed the secession bid and the criminal acts linked to the group in the region.
Environment minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere agrees that the Muslim communities who were the majority by then were denied formal education which was only offered by the missionaries who came with Christianity.
"You could only be admitted to a missionary school, if you agreed to convert to Christianity which most of the Muslims refused and stuck to Arabic and the Muslim faith," says Mwakwere.
"This led to the Muslim community lacking formal education which has since denied them job opportunities in the current set up," adds Mwakwere.
He, however, says resorting to violence and criminal activities cannot solve the problem but will see most of the coastal people suffer at the expense of the country's security forces.
"I want to tell you no government can allow part of its territory to be taken away. Just find out what happened during the Shifta war in North Eastern province. Join the government and your problems will be solved," said Mwakwere at a recent peace forum hosted by Internal Security minister Katoo ole Metito in Mombasa.
4.Government intervention to restore calm at the coast and thwart secession agenda
In the wake of the rising insecurity somehow posed by the group, the government has swung into action to crackdown on the criminal activities in the coast region.
The move was sparked by a wave of violent and criminal incidents that have rocked most parts of the region for the better part of this year.
The Internal Security minister with the orders from the cabinet vowed to arrest and charge all the MRC top leadership. Spokesman Rashid Mraja, secretary general Randu Ndzai and chairman Omar Mwamunuadzi all are in police custody.
Recently the government through CID boss Ndegwa Muhoro revealed that close to seven people among them politicians and business tycoons were under police radar for sponsoring criminal activities at the coast.
Muhoro said that those behind the insecurity are doing so through the MRC and allied militia groups. This led to arrest of Sheikh Mohamed Dor, who police is alleged to be sponsoring the MRC activities in the region. The government also warned that chances will not be taken when it comes to restoring peace in the region.
DOCUMENT PROVE THERE IS NO BASIS FOR MRC SECESSION AGENDA | The Star
