By Adan Makina
The history of people of Cushitic extracts or of like features residing in Kenya’s Eastern and North Eastern Provinces (formerly the Northern Frontier Districts or in short NFD) irradiates concealed treasures of historical value retrievable from a few surviving super-centenarian storytellers possessing narratives worthy of recitation. These are sequences of events worth deciphering that seem to be far from the reach of our local historians in far away libraries or for some unknown reasons that have not been documented to this day.
It is a history laden with courage and wit, maladies and famine that afflicted humans, wild and domesticated animals alike; it is one of murder, locust invasions, and blizzards, rape of women and girls, and cattle rustling. It details a cornucopia of occurrences during the colonial administration; it features immeasurable wealth of information regarding past tribal clashes between the various Somali sub-clans and the Borana which dragged on for over a hundred years.
Ironically, since majority of pastoralists were illiterate, these events became a tool for ascertaining the exact birth dates for people of the same age groups as the few semi-literate able-bodied men familiar with the Gregorian and Hegirae calendars migrated to the towns in search of better prospects-most probably to work for the colonial administrations as spies, cooks, translators, watchmen, and as armed askaris (soldiers but in the real sense Administration Policemen locally known as “Duubcas” as they were known to wear turbans for headgear).
What mattered most to these people about time and periodic occurrences were not birthday celebrations with cakes and cookies. Instead, it was about having strength and equanimity, a wealth of livestock and sons, religious conviction, abundant water and pasture, poetic eminence, and steadfast tribal warriors during difficult times.
The sense of humor chronicled in these events despite containing vulgarities and utterly promiscuous exploits is not intended in any way or form to malign the good name or reputation of any entity or tribe, but is being presented here to show cultural correlations between these tribes and their recorded important historical events.
Chronology of events
1901. Baahale civil war between Mohamed Zubeir, Auliyahan, and Bah-Geri.
1904. The year of Khalu. Perhaps he was a great Borana warrior who wanted to wage war against Somalis but gave up the idea after he entered Kenya from Ethiopia.
1906. The year of devastating famine when all camels were eaten in Garissa District because they were the only animals available.
1907. Breakout of Mohamed Zubeir-Abdalla war.
1911. Borana commanded by Ali Buke fought with the Somalis.
1912. Borana and Samburu fought at a place called Kome. Samburus were defeated.
1912. Abudwak-Mohamed Zubeir war ingintes.
1913. The Borana warrior, Kote, who was born without fingers on one hand, dies.
1915. Borana warrior Guyo Gutu dies after being killed by an elephant.
1917. Is remembered as the year when the Sakuye killed two Somalis and were collectively fined 400 heads of cattle as compensation.
1918. Mohamed Zubeir-Auliyahan war kicks off.
1919. The year the Borana and Gabra could not reconcile forcing the Gabra to move to Marsabit.
1919. Auliyahan-British war.
1920. Sannadkii biyo fuud. A year of drought and the introduction of tea and sugar in Garissa District.
1922. Koodhi ka carar. People escaped to Somalia to avoid paying poll tax.
1923. Kenya-Somalis crossed into Italian Somaliland.
1925. Borana killed a Somali and were fined 100 heads of cattle as blood money.
1925. Sannadkii Saangur (Sankuri) la dhisay. The year Sankuri was built.
1929. Tribal war between the Garre and Murille in Elwak.
1931. Angered by the killing of Borana by Somalis, the Borana, seeking compensation,appealed to the District commissioner, a Mr. Dadlocks, who in turn confiscated Somali camels.
1932. Deer Fanta. Outbreak of Smallpox.
1933. The colonial administration fined the Borana 1200 heads of cattle for the killing of six Somalis.
1934. British-Auliyahan war.
1935. Deer Ayax. The year of locust invasion.
1936. The year Garissa was built.
1937. Sannadkii caano arag. The year of abundant milk.
1937. Sannadkii kala carar. The year of pandemonium when people ran to unknown destinations in search of food.
1941. Sannadkii Lo’ duraay. The introduction of veterinary services.
1944. A Borana named Abduba Ali was killed by Somali Shifta (bandits). The Shifta was killed by the Borana in retaliation.
1944. Sannadkii dhul qod. The introduction of dams.
1944. Mohamed Zubeir-Bartire war.
1946. The death of Sultan Sambul.
1946. The year people slaughtered young calves for food due to famine.
1948. Borana killed two Ajurans; fined 200 heads of cattle as compensation.
1948. Ka dhaqso ku dhufo. A war song warning a rapist to hurry up with his immoral act as the husband of the wife was coming to bay for his blood. It was a year of rejoicing for Somalis after a long drought.
1949. The year Sultan Maalim Muhamed was stabbed.
1953. Garab gooye. A killer disease that decimated cattle and elephants and anyone who ate them.
1955. Boran galaay. The year when many Somalis moved to Modogashe (Madoogaashe) and Borana land due to severe drought.
1956. Guskii caano teg. A young Somali man, who, after attaining age 20, raped every woman he met each time paying as compensation 5 to 8 cows until he ran bankrupt; he finally repented his sins.
The Kenya Census Bureau deserves credit for chronicling such important historical events in its experimentation of past census exercises despite small margins of error.
From these events we are able to adduce evidence of incest in past tribal social make-ups, territorial rivalry, and adverse living conditions-conditions dictated by mother nature in poor tribal societies whose only source of income was livestock-livestock that solely depended on scarce rain followed by intermittent drought that decimated a great many populations scavenging for the few available resources in a vast desert-whipped Somali Abbo and Somali regions stretching from the Northern tip of Moyale to the southern terrains of Garissa.
Students interested in the history of NFD need exploit the atrocious wars between the Auliyahan-a sub clan of the Ogaden-Somali and the heavily equipped British Colonial Administration. Names like the Sakuye and Murille may at first sound non-Somali though the vast majority of these tribes concentrate in Wajir and Mandera respectively to as far as Moyale, Marsabit, and Isiolo in the expansive Eastern Province.
Though little has been mentioned about the exquisite Wardey-a clan that originally owned this vast region-any student of Somali history need remember that their original name was Gabbra. Names like Hargeisa, Garbaharey, Afmadow and many other towns, places, and villages have their origin in Wardey vernacular. As for Afmadow, after a much awaited battle that was to have been fought by two sub-clans of the Ogaden clan was suspended, to the surprise and amazement of a group of warriors, what they found under an acacia tree was bewildering. They found a beautiful young Wardey girl with black lips. Thus, from that day on the area was named Afmadow which is in reference to the young girl’s black mouth or lips.
From the little historical knowledge we have about NFD, the first batch of men on horseback consisting of bachelor warriors embarked on a harrowing journey driven by the desire for land, pasture, and slaves long before European colonization of the region. These dedicated men intermarried with the Wardey and thus set up settlements for Ahmediya Islamic religious propagation.
For the last quarter of a century, the political, social, and economic atmosphere in this region has been murky. The break-up of the central government in Somalia in 1991 and the rise of Al-Shabab in 2006 brought many ills to the region. There is an atmosphere of unease, mistrust, and suspicion between the inhabitants of the region and the Kenya government. Militant infiltration of society, insecurity, and government response with crackdowns has taken its toll on the inhabitants of the region. Those who call the region home are in constant fear of the Kenya government’s unprecedented security operations and the constant, inescapable punishments inflicted on them by the militants.
Our absolute dependence on European colonial writings and our failure to undertake our own research has made the task of writing our own history redundant and obsolete. The governments of East Africa have not been much better as their inclinations to European colonial ideals retarded our young historians’ pursuit of our past. It took the combined efforts of three independent minds to spread Communism to the entire world. Karl Marx was not alone; someone published his ideas while a third figure disseminated his ideas that became an ideology to reckon with even to this very day.
Adan Makina
WardheerNews
E-mail: [email protected]
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