HISTORY OF NANDI KISUMU BORDER ROW. cc
@Budspencer
Ever wondered why a place with an obviously Kalenjin name – Chemelil lies in Kisumu county? Could it have been that the original inhabitants of the place were actually Kalenjins? The truth is that it actually once belonged to them. The key word here is ‘once.’ Chemelil was the ancient abode of the Kamelilo, a section of the Nandi who inhabited the vast windswept grassland that formed an excellent pasture country for their livestock. Chemelil was the place where they held their dances, which was an important cultural activity. They were however forced to leave their abode in 1906. This is how it happened.
In the year 1900, the railway descended the highlands on its final stretch to the lake. Railway surveyors aware of the hostility of the tribes on the valley, found that there was no other path to the lake. Maps made by Railway Surveyor C.F.S. Vandeleur as early as 1896, show that what is now known as the Nyando plains was the habitation of Nandi and the Kipsigis. (The original maps are deposited in the University Library Cambridge in case you like to see them.)
To prepare the way, the British sent a political officer Charles W. Hobley to negotiate the clearance of the lowlands for the railway. Hobley met with the laibons Koitalel and his brother Kipchomber and their cousin Kibeles (see Eliot, 1905 and also Hobley, 1903). With their consent, the railway finally reached the lake in December 1901 terminating at a small habitation that was the scene of ancient barter trade between the Luo and the Nandi. The Nandi had given it the name Kesumo or ‘the place of barter’ which the British would later name Kisumu. Earlier, the British had given the area the name Kavirondo which came from another Nandi name Kapkirondio or ‘the place of bulrushes or reeds’ which are found at the lakeside. (see Matson 1961 ).
Now it so happened that the materials used to construct the railway and the accompanying telegraph (steel and copper), were so purely precious to the bellicose Nandi and Kipsigis who found it an easy source war material. On April 6, 1902, the Nandi raided the railway camp at Kibigori and took some 30 sleepers (the steel plate on which the railway is laid). Hobley immediately telegraphed Muhoroni where the Officer Commanding the King’s African Rifles was stationed informing him what had happened. He then left for Kaptumo escorted by 110 rifles to pursue the warriors who had taken the sleepers. On arrival, he found that Capt. G.W. Guy Lindesay of the Indian Staff Corps had already arrived with 50 sepoys (Indian soldiers) also pursuing another set of 60 sleepers stolen. Hobley pleaded with the Nandi saying the theft of the railway equipment was tantamount to an act of war. He said that to the British, the sleepers were as valuable as cattle were to the Nandi. The Nandi returned the sleepers but the British were not sleeping easy with this warlike tribe against which they had already carried out six (largely unsuccessful but costly) expeditions from 1895.
Separation
Later that month on April 25, 1902, a detachment of 500 Kipsigis warriors attacked another railway camp resulting in the death of one Indian worker. The trigger was an unfortunate altercation between an Indian boy with a Kipsigis girl. The Indian boy snatched an ornament worn by the girl and in retaliation, the girl’s mother caught the Indian and beat him good. The crying boy reached camp and narrated his version of the incident and the incensed Indians came down to the Kipsigis village and made off with thirty or so sheep in retaliation. The Kipsigis attacked the camp that night to recover their stock resulting in the death of the Indian. General William H. Manning the Commander of the 3rd King’s African Rifles, rushed to the area and for a while, there was a state of emergency.
The British then felt it was necessary to separate the Nandi and the Kipsigis as their combined forces would easily overwhelm the small detachment sent to guard the railway. It was then decided that the Kipsigis would be concentrated to the highlands of the Western Mau to clear them from the lowlands. This action led to the founding of Kericho town in May 1902 and the deployment of the first Administrator of the new Lumbwa district Maj. E.H. Gorges who until then had commanded Fort Ternan.
Despite that, thefts of railway equipment continued to be reported through much of 1903 and 1904. It was against this background that Lt. Richard Meinertzhagen was sent to Nandi to reinforce British troops at Nandi Fort in Kaptumo. In August 1905 Commissioner of British East Africa Sir Donald Stewart travelled to Muhoroni (known to the Nandi as ‘Morongyoo’) where he held a meeting with the Nandi. He decreed that the nearest Nandi should live not less than 20 miles from the railway. However, on October 1, 1905 Stewart suddenly died in Nairobi after falling from his horse. The news of his death was received with much jubilation by the Nandi who praised Koitalel for it. They did not know that King Edward VII had consented to yet another expedition the events of which would lead to the murder of Koitalel by Meinertzhagen on October 19, 1905.
The Trail of Tears
While the Nandi resistance was practically over with the death of Koitalel, the railway remained vulnerable. In a meeting held in Muhoroni on December 15, 1905, the new Commissioner Sir James Hayes Sadler told the Nandi that they had to move away from the lowlands into the highlands and made it clear that force would be used if need be. They were given a month to move which they ignored.
Indeed on January 15, 1906 the operation to move the Nandi was initiated by Lt. Col. Edgar E. Harrison under the supervision of General Manning. The soldiers began the rampage on January 19 and on that day alone 140 huts were burnt down (Meinertzhagen, 1955 ). In the process some 1,117 Nandi men were killed (Matson, 1974 ).The Nandi were forced to abandon their habitations in Chemelil, Muhoroni, Miwani, Kibigori, Kibos, Koru, Kapere (Kopere). Some 16,216 cattle and 36,205 small stock were rounded off and sent to Naivasha where they were auctioned by Thomas A. Wood to pay for the war. Wood managed to sell 865 ‘Nandi cows’ for a whopping 65,912.90 rupees. (Wood later became Mayor of Nairobi and Wood Avenue is named after him).
But the loss of their lands was the tragedy that continues to haunt the Nandi to this day. The Nandi were forced to ascend the highlands led by two collaborating headmen Taptengelei and araap Sirtui who convinced them that their ancestors would follow them into their new reserve in Kabiyet – 100 kilometres away.
Demarcation of the boundary
In 1909, the Central Kavirondo (Kisumu) District Commissioner James B. Ainsworth held a meeting between the Luo and the Nandi to demarcate the border of the two districts. Ainsworth, aware that he needed to keep the Nandi away from the railway, ensured their border stood miles away from the railway. In May 1911, Lumbwa (Kericho) DC Hugh B. Partington met with the new DC of Central Kavirondo G.H. Osborne at Muhoroni to demarcate the boundary between the two districts. The border would touch Sondu and ensured Chemelil, Muhoroni, Koru and its environs remained in Central Kavirondo. The area known today as Tinderet was moved to the administration of Kericho district and the lowlands were put under the administration of Kisumu district. The partition of Nandi was now complete. Both Kericho and Kisumu were administratively under the Nyanza Province. The lowlands turned out to be excellent sugar country and a settler population grew from the Soldier Settlement Scheme which began from 1919. The presence of the railway at Muhoroni made the area attractive to European farmers who began to farm sisal and cane for sugar. The demand for labour to work the plantations led to the first wave of Luo migration into the area.
It was not until independence that Tinderet was moved from Kericho back to Nandi thanks to Nandi MP Jean-Marie Seroney. While Tinderet was returned, the lowlands were not. In 1961 the heavy rains in the highlands caused severe flooding in the Kano plains leading to deaths and destruction. Seroney was approached with the prospect of moving some Luo displaced by the flooding to the south of Nandi. He consented to what he understood to have been a temporary move, only for the settlers to remain permanently. This made him the subject of much Nandi ridicule saying ‘Kirarta teliik’ – which idiomatically means that is he gave away the outlying lands of the Nandi. Again prominent Luos purchased large-scale European farms in the area and for this, the Nandi always felt the aggrieved parties since few could afford to buy. Settlement schemes established brought in small-scale Luo farmers. Industrial concerns such as Chemelil Sugar also attracted migrant (Luo) workers as did Miwani Sugar, Homa Lime etc.
The volatile situation on the lowlands continued right up to the door of independence. Seeing that the Luo had joined Kanu and the Nandi joined Kadu, Seroney (who was an Independent) saw the potential of the violence in the area. On November 25, 1962 he called for a peace meeting where he invited the Luo to Kapsabet. The grand peace rally was held with over 7000 Nandi and Luo in attendance. The meeting was done under the auspices of the Luo United Movement (LUM), a Kanu affiliated party and the Kalenjin Political Union (KPU) which was allied to Kadu. Speaker after speaker called for good neighbourliness. As a sign of goodwill, eight cows were slaughtered and roasted in the open grounds and freely shared by all. Seroney invited fellow legislator William Murgor of Elgeyo Marakwet who told the Press that the Kalenjins and the Luo had no intention of forming a political alliance but that the two wanted to illustrate that ‘tribes which belonged to different political parties could be brothers.’ The brotherhood probably lasted until someone missed the taste of milk in his mouth...the fossil feud stands todate.Below is the muhoroni station in 1906