Racial tension and anti-foreign sentiment grew in Kenya this week as outrage continued following the release of a white farmer who confessed to killing a Maasai game ranger.
The country’s Attorney General, Amos Wako, decided there wasn’t enough evidence against Tom Cholmondeley (37), a member of Kenya’s most prominent white settler dynasties, the Delameres, to sustain a murder charge.
A public outcry greeted the farmer’s release, with police breaking up mass demonstrations and Maasai morans (warriors) armed with pangas and clubs threatening to invade white-owned farms.
Instead of a trial, the attorney general opted for an inquest into the fatal shooting of the warden, Samson ole Sisina (44), who was allegedly investigating illegal trade in game meat when he was shot.
Cholmondeley argued that he had acted in self-defence after mistaking Ole Sisina for a robber.
His release also sparked an outpouring of anger against Kenya’s white community.
“Cholmondeley’s free because he’s a rich white with links to the United Kingdom … There’s a different law for the poor black man in this country,” said Ben ole Koissaba, a Maasai land activist, referring to the fact that thousands of Kenyans languish in jail for years before being subject to criminal trials.
Political commentator Gitau Warigi agreed: “Race is the … emotive mix in this cocktail.”
Cholmondeley’s statement that he shot Ole Sisina in the belief that he was a “thief” drew cutting sarcasm from Warigi: “What else can a ‘native’ be?” he scoffed, before launching a bitter diatribe against Kenya’s white community, saying they continued to treat black people like “crap”.
Police are guarding Cholmondeley’s farm, and patrolling the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, after the Maasai pledged to invade land.
Public Service Minister William ole Ntimama, a Maasai elder, said it was “unbelievable” that the government was protecting people who had stolen land from black Kenyans.
Newton Kulundu, the Labour Minister, added: “This is a man I believe to have roots in Britain and he should be expelled to go and practise the law of the jungle there … After 40 years of independence, hundreds of thousands of acres still belong to settlers with squatters in their backyard.”
But MP Bonny Khalwale urged fellow Kenyans not to be guided by “racist emotions” as Cholmondeley was a citizen of the country, albeit white.
Warigi, though, warned white Kenyans: “Our Kenyan cowboys should learn and get wiser. You can only get away with so much before the ‘natives’ decide they had better take matters into their own [hands] if the government prefers to side with the oppressors.”
Kenya’s white community remained largely silent, but one told the Mail & Guardian: “The white person’s position in Africa has always been controversial and precarious … but we’re going nowhere.”