The grassroots parliamentary campaign for Maasai land and human rights activist, Meitamei Olol Dapash, continues to thrive and grow throughout Maasailand, Kenya, but needs help to see victory in the polls on March 4th! Meitamei is the founder and Director of the Maasai Environmental Resource Coalition since 1987 and leader of the suit for the return of 30,000 acres of ancestral land at Mau Narok to the Maasai community, due to be heard in Kenyan court next month.
Meitamei's campaign is running entirely on the grassroots support and he is winning! Maasai people are canvassing by bus, motorcycle and foot, going without food and walking great distances. Young people have organized a social media campaign, spreading the word on Maa Radio, organizing rallies at all events where people gather: churches, schools, and sports events. While polls show him to have the overwhelming majority of the vote in his district, Narok North, his election is not guaranteed due to the potential for corruption of the voting process on election day. Because rural Maasai people lack literacy, they need the assistance of polling agents to fill out their ballots and candidates must hire their own agents to ensure that votes get counted. We are asking for the support of friends of Indigenous struggles everywhere to help us meet this moment of opportunity for genuine political representation.
For more information, please visit Meitamei's facebook page here.
Articles in the Cultural Survival Quarterly by Meitamei:
Ecotourism in the Masai Mara: An Interview with Meitamei Ole Dapash
Maasai Autonomy and Sovereignty in Kenya and Tanzania
In The Hands Of The Government: The Last Maasai Journey
Mau Forest Destruction
