county oil conflicts in the bud

These days, it seems, hardly a week goes by before another oil discovery is made somewhere in northern Kenya.
The latest is the announcement by Vanoil Energy of a potentially massive discovery in Modogashe, Garissa. A few days before that, Tullow Oil confirmed finding yet more oil in its Turkana block, aside from the now-famous Ngamia 1 oil well.
A common refrain in all these oil finds is the reaction of local leaders and residents afterwards. It is always a version of “The oil is ours, it is deep inside our county, and we demand that our region be given priority because this oil belongs to the residents.”
This is all a bit silly, because none of the people in a region do anything to put the oil in the ground. The drilling companies should compensate the landowners as determined by the relevant authority, relocate them to equivalent lands elsewhere if need be, and then proceed with getting the stuff out of the ground.
The always-simmering tensions between different ethnic communities in the north of Kenya will become even more strained as oil money starts flowing to counties’ coffers. Control of such monies will likely form the basis of electoral campaigns that will degenerate into little more than tribal head counts.
The ministry concerned must quickly device ways of shutting down these coming conflicts, before they happen, as they certainly will, once oil money begins sloshing around.