From: Leo Odera Omolo
Date: Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Subject: Crowning of Nicholas Biwott as a Kalenjin elder sparked off alot of controversies

UPROAR OVER THE CROWNING OF NICHOLAS BIWOTT AS A NANDI ELEDER IN A CEREMONY ORGANISED BY THE DESCENDANTS OF KOITALEL SAMOEI THE LEGENDARY LAIBON.

News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo In Kapsabet Town.

The weekend act by the Nandi elders of crowning Nichola Kiprono Kipyator Biwott, the former powerful cabinet Minister during the reign of KANU regime as a Kalenjin elder has elicited a lot of uproar.

It is indeed, the talk of the town, with divergent views being expressed, some opposed to the act, while other are dismissing it as an act of betrayal of the Nandi community. But the majority said Biwott deserved the honor because he had served the community diligently with a zeal.

Commonly known to his peers as “Powerman”, what was vested on Biwott is the highest honor in the community. Only one man had received similar decoration in recent history of the Nandis. The retired President Daniel Arap Moi is the only one in modern history of the community who was made a Kalenjin elder. Moi received the honor conferred on him by the Nandi elders in the year 1952, at the beginning of his long and rewarding political career.

The ceremony in which Biwott was anointed a Kalenjin elder took place at Sirinoi village in Kapsisiywa Ward, North Nandi district, over the weekend.

The Kapsisiywa sub-clan is an historically important one. This is the sub-clan of the Nandi resistance hero, Koitalel Arap Samoei, who led a protracted war of resistance against the British rule at the turn of the twentieth Century.

Samoei was shot and killed by the British and is buried in unmarked grave at the site within the Nandi Hills Town.

The Kapsisiywa people are the most feared people. They are called Orkoik or Talaek or Laibon {Medicinemen}.

Biwott visited the area in the company of the MP for Emngwen, Elijah Lagat, who is reported to have skipped the ceremony, which was held in secrecy, for fear of political repercussions and reprisal within the constituency, due to the significance of the ceremony itself.

The Kapsisitywa sub-clan has a long history of persecution and oppressions by the British. And in 1934 the entire sub-clan, which was well spread in Nandi, Kipsigis and Tugen sub-tribes, was vanquished to a remote Gwassi Hills in South Nyanza where they remained exiled until 1962. The banning and vanquishing of its leader came as a result of accusation by the British colonial administration, that some of its members were still secretly organizing further resistance against the Broitsh rule. The claims were supported by Senior Kalenjin Chiefs at the time, who with their collaborators fed the administration with a pack of lies about the Orkoik two decades after their leader Samoei had long been assassinated by the British agents.

Some members of the sub-clan were exiled on Mfangano Island. There, the Orkoik were placed under the supervision of the late Senior Chief Simeon Wasonga., while those taken to the remotest part of Gwassi Hills were placed under the care of Chief Kasuku Matunga. Others crossed the border into the Tanganyika {now Tanzania}.

But in 1962, the then Member of Legco for Kipsigis, the late Dr. Taaitta Araap Toweett, successfully petitioned the colonial administration in Kenya by way of moving a successfully motion in the colonial legislative Council {Legco}, in which he demanded that the Orkoik be allowed to return and live happily among their people. And by the end of 1962 the exodus and influx of the exiled villagers had started tracking back to Kericho, Nandi and Baringo, with thousands of their livestock from South Nyanza back to their native homes.

The crowning of Biwott as a Kalenjin elder is bound to elicit more controversies, given the long and murky historical background of the sub-clan. Some elders, particularly those who were not invited, have expressed skepticism, terming it an act of fraud.They argued that Biwott did not deserve the honor, and were furious with those behind the ceremony as “Traitors”.

The incident occurred while the “Powerman” was still smarting from the heavy defeat inflicted on his National Vision Party of Kenya in the Shinyalu by-election, where Biwott had actively participated by way of addressing the campaign rallies.

Biwott flew in a Chopper to Kapsisiywa for the important tribal rites. At the village he was given a monkey skin, a long, walking stick for guiding the community and its leadership, and a gourd of milk signifying the Kalenjin symbols of wealth.

“Under normal circumstance, much of this ceremony is supposed to be held in the open ground in full view of the public, yet they did everything in secrecy”, lamented one elder, Mzee Kiplimo Bitok of Chepterit Market.

But those conversant with numerous dissenting views against Biwott said it is binding. Biwott’s supporters argued that the former Kerio South MP has done a lot in the development of the community and deserves such honours.

On old man Mzee Sylvester Koyogo argued franticly that Biwott did not deserve such honor, and questioned how Biwott became qualified for this kind of honor when other Kalenjin leaders like the Minister for Agriculture, William Ruto, the Minister for Industrialization, Henry Kosgei and even the former long serving Minister for Agriculture, Kipruto Arap Kirwa, did not qualif for such community honor, and yet they have done a lot to the community. Even President Mwai Kibaki, who is single handedly credited for having initiated a project for the construction of a Museum in Memory of the late great Orkoiyot Koitalel Arap Samoei has yet to receive such high decoration from the Nandis.

But others maintained that those who crowned Biwott as the Kalenjin elder owed the community an apology.

But for the Powerman, he has pulled a victory string over others while they were still napping. Being made a Kalenjin elder means a lot to the community, especially when such as ceremony is conducted by the elders from such a powerful sub-clan.

After the ceremony, Biwott went to Kapsisiywa Secondary School for Harambee fund drive in aid of the school, before flying out of the district in late afternoon.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com