Seeking Justice: Sengwer Community's Petition Amidst King Charles III's Kenya Visit

Seeking Justice: Sengwer Community's Petition Amidst King Charles III's Kenya Visit

The Sengwer indigenous community has formally petitioned the United Kingdom for justice concerning the historical injustices they suffered during the colonial period from 1895 to 1963, which coincide with King Charles III's visit to Kenya.

In a petition addressed to King Charles III through the UK High Commission, the Sengwer community has raised the issue of colonial land alienation. They assert that their ancestral lands were wrongfully taken and transformed into white settlement farms.

Paul Kiptum, Chairman of the Sengwer Council of Elders, is the signatory of this petition. According to the community, areas such as Kapchepkoilel in Trans Nzoia, portions of Bungoma, Kakamega, and Uasin Gishu counties originally belonged to them before they were forcibly displaced.

This forced displacement resulted in the loss of approximately 457,633 acres of their prime land to white settlement farmers. Moreover, it led to the erosion of their cultural identity and language, which they are actively working to restore.

Consequently, the Sengwer community is demanding both restitution and reparation for the loss of their ancestral lands to white settlers, as well as the return of the 100 square miles of land in Lelan. These issues have taken on particular significance in the context of King Charles III's visit to Kenya.

It's important to note that during the 1930s to the 1960s, the colonial government implemented a forest preservation policy that resulted in the gazetting of the Sengwer community's ancestral lands and homes as government forests. These areas included Kabolet (1941), Kapkanyar, Kipteberr (1967), Sogotio (1941), Kaisungor (1941), Chemurgoi (1941), Kerer (1954), Embobut (1954), Kipkunur (1941), Torapket (1941), Lelan (1958), and Cheboyit (1941).

This petition and its associated historical context have taken on renewed importance with asKing Charles III  starts its tour of  Kenya, making it a significant and timely issue for discussion