Background
The Maasai, a pastoralist community in present-day Kenya, were historically dominant across large parts of the central Rift Valley. With the advent of British colonial rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the British sought land for European settlers and the construction of the Uganda Railway, leading to negotiations and eventual land alienation from the Maasai.
1904 Agreement
- Signed: August 10, 1904
- Parties: Maasai leaders (laibons and elders) and the British colonial administration.
- Terms:
- The Maasai agreed to vacate their ancestral lands in the central Rift Valley (Laikipia and Naivasha regions).
- In return, the British promised to create two exclusive Maasai reserves:
- The Northern Reserve (Laikipia plateau)
- The Southern Reserve (present-day Kajiado and parts of Narok)
- The agreement was presented as a “voluntary” move, but Maasai leaders had limited understanding of the implications, and their ability to negotiate was constrained by British power.
- The Maasai were told the reserves would be for their “exclusive use in perpetuity.”
1911 Agreement
- Signed: July 1911
- Parties: Again, between Maasai leaders and the British government.
- Reasons: The British wanted to open the Laikipia plateau (Northern Reserve) for white settlers due to its fertile soils and suitable climate.
- Terms:
- The Maasai were compelled to leave the Northern Reserve (Laikipia), despite the previous promise.
- All Maasai were to move south of the railway line, concentrating them in the Southern Reserve (Kajiado/Narok).
- The British again promised the Southern Reserve would be exclusively Maasai land.
- The relocation caused immense hardship, including loss of livestock and lives.
1913 Court Ruling
- Case: Ole Njogo & Ors. v. The Attorney General (1913)
Often referred to as the “Masai Land Case” - Background: The Maasai elders challenged the legality of their removal from the Northern Reserve, arguing the 1904 and 1911 agreements had not been honored and were not properly understood or consented to.
- Judgement:
- The court found in favor of the British government.
- The agreements were deemed to be “political agreements” rather than legally enforceable treaties.
- The ruling held that colonial courts could not enforce agreements between the Crown and indigenous people that were made for the purpose of colonial administration.
- The Maasai lost legal standing to reclaim the Northern Reserve, and the British continued with settler occupation of Laikipia.
Consequences
- The Maasai lost access to vast areas of their ancestral land.
- They were concentrated into smaller reserves in the south, which caused social and economic hardship.
- The agreements and the court case became symbolic of broader patterns of land alienation, dispossession, and broken colonial promises in East Africa.
- The legacy of these actions continues to influence land disputes and Maasai rights issues in Kenya to this day.
In summary:
The 1904 and 1911 agreements led to the systematic dispossession of the Maasai from their ancestral lands by the British, and the 1913 ruling denied them any legal recourse—setting a precedent for colonial land policies across Kenya.