Kenya, Like the United States, Is a Country Made Up of Immigrants

Apart from Kenya’s Whites and Asians, who did the rest of us find when we came to Kenya those many years ago? Who did we “colonise” when we came here? If Kenya’s Whites and Asians are “colonialists,” then the rest of us too are “colonialists,” because we must have found different communities here in Kenya when we came those many years ago.

And on a related note, a light one, Daniel T. arap Moi (1924 to 2020), was Vice President of Kenya from 1967 to 1978, and President of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. Daniel T. arap Moi was from Kenya’s Kalenjin community. Salim Ahmed Bamahriz (1942 to 2016), was one of six founder members of Kenya’s Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) political party, the other five being Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, George Nthenge, Philip Gachoka, Martin Shikuku and Masinde Muliro. FORD looked united and formidable in early 1992, looked like they were set to dislodge the Kenya African National Union (KANU), from power at Kenya’s General Elections of 1992. There were however internal wrangles in FORD in mid-1992, leading to the split of FORD into two, that is, FORD-Kenya lead by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, and FORD-Asili led by Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba. The split weakened FORD, and contributed to KANU’s victory at the 1992 elections.

Salim Ahmed Bamhriz traced his ancestry to Yemen, and Daniel T. arap Moi traced his ancestry to Sudan. In early 1992, President Daniel T. arap Moi, at a public rally, said that Salim Ahmed Bamahriz should “go back to Yemen.” Salim Ahmed Bamahriz was a fast thinker and good with words too, and Salim Ahmed Bamahriz responded to President Moi by saying that yes indeed, he would catch the next flight to Yemen, but told President Moi to be on that flight too, so that he could be dropped off in Sudan, for good, as the flight proceeded to Yemen to drop off Salim Ahmed Bamhriz in Yemen, for good.

There also used to be a vocal White Kenyan in the 1990s based in Nakuru, Kenya, who’s name this writer does not immediately remember. In the late 1990s there was a charged debate on “Who owns Kenya” in the “Letters to the Editor” page of Kenya’s “Daily Nation” newspaper that went on for about two months, before the Editor of “Daily Nation” closed the debate. Highly charged letters from different parts of Kenya were published in the “Letters to the Editor” page of the “Daily Nation” during that about two month period.

In one of the letters, the White Kenyan mentioned above, who’s name this writer does not immediately remember, was told “to pack up his belongings and return to Britain with immediate effect.” He responded in the affirmative, saying he that he would indeed return back to Britain “with immediate effect,” but that as he did so, all other Kenyans should “also do likewise” with regard to their origins and ancestries, as he listed, in his letter, where many of us came from, and the approximate periods in time that our forebearers/forefathers/ancestors arrived in Kenya.

So, “Who owns Kenya?” Remarks made by Smith Hempstone in the year 1989 could guide us on this. Who is Smith Hempstone? Smith Hempstone (1926 to 2006), was America’s ambassador to Kenya from 1989 to 1993. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was widespread killing of Kenya’s wildlife for food, sport and sale abroad as “trophies/decorative ornaments/wall items.” Many Kenyans who hunted wildlife back then in the 1970s and 1980s, did so for subsistence, did so for food, while many tourists who hunted wildlife in Kenya back then in the 1970s and 1980s, did so for “fashion,” for sport. For example, a helicopter with White tourists would land in a Kenyan national park or Kenyan game reserve back then, and one or two individuals with powerful rifles would disembark from the helicopter and shot dead, on the spot, a rhino, a lion, or an elephant, take photographs and video along the dead animal, and then leave. That was it. Local Kenyans would then move in fast and cut up the dead animal for food. It was even said back then, that lion meat is “tasty and delicious.”

And then guess what? Local Kenyans back then who hunted wildlife were referred to as “poachers” while well heeled tourists back then who hunted wildlife in Kenya, some of whom came in private jets, were referred to, not as “poachers,” but as “hunters.” Almost all were White, bringing about the mismatch and contradiction of “Black Poachers vs. White Hunters.”

When Smith Hempstone arrived in Kenya in 1989 as America’s ambassador to Kenya, one of his key agendas was to bring an end to the killing of wildlife in Kenya. Indeed, Dr. Richard Leakey (1944 to 2022), was appointed Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), with a generous budget, generous personnel, and sophisticated equipment to combat “poachers” and “hunters.” A significant amount of funding for Dr. Richard Leakey’s task-at-hand was made available by the US Government. George H.W. Bush (the senior George Bush), was US President at the time.

Kenyan parliamentarians at the time came down hard on both Smith Hempstone and the US Government for “interfering in the affairs of Kenya,” telling both Smith Hempstone and the US Government that Kenya was not “an American colony.”

Smith Hempstone’s response was interesting. He said that Kenya’s wildfire did not belong to the Kenyan people, per se, but to global society in general, and that we Kenyans were simply the custodians and caretakers of Kenya’s wildlife, for the benefit of current and future generations of mankind.

So who does the Republic of Kenya as a whole belong to? To we Kenyans, or to global society in general? Are we, the current generations of Kenyans, simply the current custodians, current caretakers and current trustees of the land area known as Republic of Kenya, for the benefit of current and future generations of mankind?

Smith Hempstone did and does have a broader point, because none of us created what we today know as the Republic of Kenya, none of us created the planet Earth as a whole? Those of us of present times found the Republic of the Kenya and shall leave it behind. Those of us of present times found the planet Earth as a whole and shall leave it behind. It is our creator, the creator of mankind, and the creator of planet Earth, who could actually give guidance on “who owns what.” Does anybody have the telephone number or email address of our creator?

And on a related note too, check out the interesting five minute video on our mixed ancestries and mixed heritages, at the YouTube link below:

Momondo: The DNA Journey | Ancestry