This is a guest post by Sironka Ole Masharen.
Drought is menacingly rearing its ugly head in most parts of Maasailand, causing panic and uncertainty.
The creation of Group Ranches among the Maasai has from the initial stages been erroneous as it deliberately tied the traditional Maasai to the traditional pastoral economy on less extensive and more arid lands with his former system of transhumance severely curtailed. This has obviously led to a vicious circle of excruciating drought in almost every year.
The concept of olosho among the Maasai denotes a self-contained ecological unit consisting of orpukel (dry lowland) and osupuko (wet highland). The destruction of this annual migratory system after the adjudication of most of wet highlands left no other way of cautioning them against harsh life in semi-arid windswept plains.
Things have not been helped by the fact that the concept of global warming is alive in our midst. Gone are the days when rains were regular and predictable.
And what could the much anticipated El Nino portend for our people? It means severe rains could do much damage by sweeping away the little top soil left bare by denudation and despoilment caused by overstocking and overgrazing. In such poorly managed rangelands, floods can easily occur with severe consequences.
I hope our Members of Parliament are not waiting to be taken by surprise and are frequenting Waiguru’s offices in case of need for future disaster management! This is what serious leadership entails.