1.
OPDP PRESENTATION FOR IIED LEGAL
TOOLS WEBINAR
on Wednesday 16 Nov, 2016
By John Samorai
NYAMAKOROTO HOUSE
Floor 2nd Room No. 210
Biashara Street, Nakuru
P.O Box 424-20115,
Egerton
www.ogiekpeoples.org

2.
The presentation Highlights
1. Brief about the Ogiek and key issues faced by the
Ogiek community to secure customary land rights in
Kenya?
2. Key features of the community by- laws process?
3. How can communities and civil society organization
use such by-laws to protect community land rights?
4. The challenges, and how can they be addressed?

3.
 An indigenous community in
Kenya who self-identify with
their livelihoods and cultural
attraction to their land and
natural resources
 They are forest dependant
hunter-gatherers but now
changing to small scale
agro-pastoralism
 They live in forest areas which
include national and county
forests, national reserves and
parks.
 They consider these areas as
their ancestral homes and thus
are in contestation/conflict
with the government.
Key issues faced by the Ogiek community to secure customary land rights in Kenya

4.
 They face forest evictions
 Tenure insecurity. Living in
the forest.
 Much of their land is up for
grabs since it has not been
registered.
 Limited documentation about
their land.
 Lack of desegregated data
about the community.
Key issues faced by the Ogiek community to secure customary land rights in
Kenya

5.
Key features of the community by-laws
The community goals:
• Readiness to securing community/customary land
tenure
• Building evidence for advocacy on community land
• Securing community resources from grab and
unauthorized exploitation
• ….

6.
Key features of the community by-laws
Result:
Promoting good
governance at the
local level,
accountability
Inclusion and
protection of rights
preservation of
culture and identity
Social rules
Governance rules
Rules on management
of community resources

7.
By-laws to protect community land rights
Women’s right to own land
Women being part of governance
Wider community involvement in
community land decisions
To guide on boundary harmonization,
zonation and use of resources, community
dispute resolution, negotiations and benefit
sharing with investors and government

8.
Role of the civil society
o Helping the community strengthen their by-laws
through facilitating their drafting process and review
o Facilitating communal legal education for their
empowerment
o Facilitating linkages with the government
departments as an advocacy process

9.
Challenges, and how can they be addressed
• Land and resource distribution-related conflicts. The hunter gatherers mostly
face land issues when the government evicts them for wildlife and forest
conservation. The issue of land ownership arises in both instances. The
previous constitution did not address the issue of land ownership but all this
changed with the passing of the Kenyan Constitution 2010. Recognition of the
community land and passing of the Community Land Act
• Poor service delivery. These communities are not in the public radar which
impose difficulty in the delivery of services of them. Service delivery is already
poor in the country and the fact that the majority tribes are complaining about
poor service delivery makes it worse for the minority tribes.
 Lack of political goodwill and support. Poor political representation. There is
no representation of the marginalized communities at the national level.
Making allies with people in the government and making them understand the
situation of communities could help them offer their support
 Exclusion. The community still feels neglected. Fight for their space. Seek for
public participation that is provided for in the law.
 Inadequate resources. The community lives in poor condition and unable to
generate resources to support lengthy cause of justice. Encourage the
community to invest and seek partnership and support from well wishers and
donor communities.

10.
The community land protection approach is an innovation that will
address many problems towards securing community land tenure.