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Ole Kina’s agitation for Maasai rights rubs others the wrong way
What you need to know:
- Born in 1974 in Oloombokishi, a small village near Narok town, he is the seventh of 10 children.
- He was the brain behind Maasai Education Discovery, an initiative in which he partnered with his US friends to promote education in Narok County.
- The ODM Senator is known for picking fight after fight which has made him attract friends and foes in equal measure.
Since the death of Maasai political kingpin William ole Ntimama in 2016, Narok County Senator Ledama ole Kina has chosen to use acerbic comments in his bid to fill the position of community leader.
Just like ole Ntimama who is remembered for his infamous “lie low like an envelope” edict to Kikuyu community members during the 1992 ethnic clashes in Ensoopukia, Mr ole Kina seems to be slowly fitting in the shoes of his predecessor as a man with a loose tongue who relishes stirring up controversies.
ORATORY GIFT
Those who have interacted with the 46-year-old first time Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Senator say he is an abrasive man whose oratory gift can strike fear into his opponents.
Born in 1974 in Oloombokishi, a small village near Narok town, he is the seventh of 10 children.
His father was Maasai and his mother Kikuyu. Mr ole Kina spent most of his adult life in the United States studying and later working.
He went to Narok High School and thereafter proceeded to the US where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and English Communication from The University of Massachusetts in Boston in 2002.
He was the brain behind Maasai Education Discovery, an initiative in which he partnered with his US friends to promote education in Narok County.
According to a June 12, 2000 article in The Post-Gazette, a US publication, ole Kina walked about 2,800 kilometres from Boston to Chicago to raise money to build a college in Narok.
The ODM Senator is known for picking fight after fight — sometimes even before settling an earlier one — which has made him attract friends and foes in equal measure.
INTOLERANCE
Last week the senator was in the news for the wrong reason after fomenting ethnic intolerance at the Building Bridges Initiative rally at the newly-named Ole Ntimama Stadium.
Without batting an eyelid, the father of two announced that Narok County was for the Maasai, and that non-Maasais who live, invest and work in the county were not welcome to the BBI rally.
"Maasai issues will be better articulated by Maasais and I am not apologetic for my stance,” he stated. Consequently the Kipsigis — who are also residents of Narok occupying three constituencies of Narok South, Narok West and Emurua-Dikirr — stormed out of the meeting.
The Kipisigis have a big say in the county’s voting patterns. Members of the Kikuyu, Kisii and Luhya communities also have a significant presence in the county. They were left unsettled by the senator’s alarming utterances.
The tall, well-built light-skinned legislator with a signature Afro hairstyle is creating an image of a man larger than who he actually is; a de facto Maasai spokesman.
PUBLIC SPAT
Before his latest public spat, ole Kina made headlines following his firm stand on the eviction of settlers from Mau Forest and its impact on inter-ethnic relations in Narok County.
Last year he was summoned by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission after a video emerged of him fuming against the presence of the Kipsigis community in Narok.
He strongly castigated those opposing the Mau Forest evictions and mentioned names of influential people who he claimed owned land in the vast water tower.
“Like Ntimama, he is abrasive and not a fence sitter when it comes to issues affecting the community,” said Meitamei Ololdapash, a Maasai land rights activist and chairman of the Narok BBI steering committee.
However, many analysts say he is yet to master the art of politics like the late ole Ntimama who knew when to agitate for his community’s land rights and when to negotiate.
ETHNIC ANIMOSITY
Ole Kina’s utterances have not gone down well with some leaders from the South Rift region who feel that the senator is inciting ethnic animosity between communities living in the county and must be stopped.
“What the senator is doing is wrong and he needs to be stopped in his tracks before he ignites more ethnic violence between the two communities,” said Emurua-Dikirr MP Johanna Ngeno.
Mr Ngeno was among the Kipsigis leaders who boycotted last week’s BBI rally in Narok due to the senator’s abrasiveness and perceived intolerance to other communities.
