Abaluhya Secession: Two Kenyans File Petition To Hold Referendum

Two Kenyans have filed a petition to the High Court seeking to hold a referendum to determine whether or not the Abaluhya (Luhya) community will remain a part of Kenya.

In the petition, they say that the community has been marginalized economically, socially, culturally and politically. They argue that the community has been subjected to poverty and underdevelopment because it was never a part of the territory known as Kenya.

Read Also: UNICEF: Kenyan Children Suffering From Acute Malnutrition

The petitioners, Mathew Okwanda Mwilista and Alex Misingo Matisha, both of Luhya decent, further claim that no pro-active steps have been undertaken by any regime to ameliorate the degrading situation of the community which comprises of 20 distinct clans.

“Since the said merger of the people comprising the former Eastern Province of Uganda, the said community has undergone severe discrimination, and victimization in job allocation and general development funding,” reads the petition filed at the High Court.

The petition further claimed that the merger of the former Eastern Province of Uganda with the British East Africa Protectorate was illegal. They claim that the territory was situated in the then territory known as the Uganda Protectorate under the British Colonial administration before its irregular transfer to Kenya.

It pointed out that it was a direct violation of the United Nations Charter and the United Nations Governing Assembly Resolution No. 1514 (XV) of December 14, 1960.

“The inhabitants of the former Eastern Province of Uganda were never consulted over the irregular transfer of their territory to the former British East Africa Protectorate now known as Kenya,” argued the two.

The then Abaluhya leaders, according to the petitioners, voiced their concerns in writing to the Lancaster House Conference talks on Kenya’s Independence in 1960. Their plea, however, was ignored as well as till date by subsequent governing regimes.

The government of the United Kingdom by design failed to resolve the Abaluhya Question when it was in a position to do so before granting independence to the British East Africa Protectorate.

They say it is liable to pay reparations for the anguish and sorrow suffered by the Luhya people up to date.

Read Also: Ugandan Police Attack Kenyan Policeman On Migingo

The U.K. Government, as well as the Office of the President and the Attorney-General, have been listed as respondents in the case. Others are the Devolution and Plaing Ministry and the Ugandan government.

High Court Judge, Chacha Mwita, directed the petitioners to serve the petition to the respondents and appear for directions on October 18 this year.