Kenya: Eviction, flooding and disability in Baringo County

Lake Bogoria is located in Baringo County, in the Great Rift Valley region in Kenya. It is a salt alkaline lake, which makes it an essential breeding ground for lesser flamingos. Fringed by pastures for cattle, the lake and its surroundings constitute the ancestral lands of the indigenous Endorois people. This case study explores the community’s land rights battle to retain access to the lake and the impacts that persistent flooding is having, particularly on indigenous women and people with disabilities.  

Lake Bogoria is an area of spiritual importance to the Endorois community, an agro-pastoralist community of around 60,000 – 70,000 people living in Baringo County. Christine Kandie, Director of the Endorois Indigenous Women’s Empowerment Network (EIWEN), explains how the Endorois have been historically connected to this lake and its waters through community rituals. To Endorois people, Lake Bogoria is a prayer site, and an area of great economic value given the fertile grazing fields and the abundance of trees for timber construction and firewood.

Eviction

In 1974, the Endorois community were evicted from their ancestral lands by the Kenyan government. Affected families received KES 3, compensation of less than US$ 1 in today’s currency. However, only a few families received this amount and many years after they had been promised it. Kandie explains, ‘After some time, our elder brothers and sisters who had activism and human rights in their hearts felt that whatever the government did to us was not fair’. These evictions, like others across the region, were part of nature conservation efforts to develop tourism through the creation of the Lake Bogoria Game Reserve.  

Endorois activists began to challenge the government-led evictions by seeking justice in local courts, while facing harassment and arrests for public assembly along the way. By 2003, all national remedies had been exhausted and the community took the issue to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, represented by the Endorois Welfare Council, and assisted by Minority Rights Group, WITNESS and the Centre for Minority Rights Development. Kandie adds:

Flooding

In the last decade, the waters of Lake Bogoria have been rising, along with six other water bodies in the Great Rift Valley region, swallowing 60 square kilometres of land traditionally inhabited by the indigenous Endorois and displacing countless numbers of people. Climate change is one of the issues contributing to the rising water levels. Environmental issues affecting Lake Bogoria are directly linked to deforestation for charcoal burning, exacerbated by high unemployment rates in the area. The impacts of these issues are felt keenly by the community, particularly as the Endorois are still dealing with the unresolved land rights case. Kandie adds:

In addition to the displacement of the population inhabiting the lands around the lake, the flooding has caused health facilities to close down. What is more, soil fertility has been affected, and areas for community rituals have disappeared. Some Endorois have been displaced not only once but multiple times throughout their lifetimes, as the lands on which they were resettled post-eviction have been inundated multiple times by the encroaching waters.

Disability

Kandie talks about Tartok, an Endorois woman with a disability whose story provides an example of the difficulties faced by those who are most vulnerable within the community. Tartok was newly married when the evictions took place and lost her sight a few years later. Having been resettled on government land that is inaccessible and underdeveloped, she is unable to provide for her family. One time she tried collecting food near her home but was bitten by a snake. Without a personal assistant, and with no means of paying for the travel that is required to get the documentation to register as disabled, she is left without access to the national social security fund for people with disabilities and must also deal with stigma. Kandie explains:

It was through her work at the community level on the land rights case that Kandie first noticed some of the key issues facing Endorois women and people with disabilities. She details:

Although the community was engaging in collective action to challenge the government to regain access to their ancestral lands and tackle other issues, not everyone was included or had their interests represented in this effort. According to Kandie:

Ubuntu

This realization led Christine to set up the Endorois Indigenous Women’s Empowerment Network (EIWEN). EIWEN now works primarily on the rights of women and people with disabilities within the Endorois community, focusing on land rights and economic empowerment but also working on social issues like political representation, gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and female genital mutilation. Kandie adds:

In addition, EIWEN has started to engage in international advocacy, through the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), trying to highlight the issues of indigenous women with disabilities across all spheres and connecting with other organizations nationally, regionally and globally which are doing similar work. Kandie explains:

The work of EIWEN has been well received by the local and national government, which have acknowledged that community dialogues are required to amplify the voices of those who are most vulnerable within marginalized, indigenous communities, and to make their stories visible. Kandie concludes:

Photo: Josephine, an Endorois community health volunteer, standing near the submerged Loboi Dispensary in Baringo County, Kenya. Credit: Billy Rwothungeyo/MRG.