Colonial chiefs who helped establish British rule were cruel and no-nonsense

The death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8 has brought back memories of how the British colonial administration used chiefs and headmen to maintain control over Kenya. Discussions with the families of former colonial chiefs who, like the colonial administrators, ruled with an iron fist, reveal a history of rulers who earned both love and hatred, balancing the interests of native Kenyans and colonial masters. According to family reports, Kigen arap Chemirmir, the last colonial chief in the North Rift, died on January 13, aged about 125 years. He was laid to rest in Tumeiyo, Elgeyo Marakwet. He was a cattle rustler who returned from prison to become a colonial headman, according to elders who knew him. Chemirmir and other chiefs are described as "powerful kings" who occasionally dined and drank with colonial government officials and settlers prior to Kenya's independence. According to his family, he ruled as a headman in Tumeiyo, Keiyo South, from around 1942 to 1963, when he retired. After his death, it was revealed that before becoming a headman, he was in the bad books of the colonial government. A wanted person poster circulated by the colonial government in 1941, made the rounds on social media in January this year. Chemirmir, whose photo appears on the poster, was wanted dead or alive for cattle theft and assaulting a European settler in Uasin Gishu. A reward of Sh250 was offered for his capture. Chemirmir's niece, retired teacher Monica Chebii says the man's life became difficult after the construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway was halted following the First World War. During the same time period (after the railway job ended), the colonial government imposed poll and hut taxes on natives. According to the 1919 Uasin Gishu District police file, Chemirmir was forced to engage in cattle raids due to the 1918-19 famine and the District Commissioner's continued pressure for the poll and hut tax. "At the age of 37, he went to Tambach and was recruited as a police officer and a mail runner under the District Commissioner of Elgeyo Marakwet," according to family records. Chemirmir got into a physical fight with a European settler in Uasin Gishu, which led to his arrest. He was then transferred to the Kamiti Maximum Prison. The British appointed him as a headman upon his release from prison as one method of containing him. "The second jailterm was in 1941 at Simotwo, where he was accused of continuous cattle raids and serious fights with Mzungu." He was imprisoned for two years to prevent further raids before being appointed head of Tumeiyo London, a position he held until his retirement in 1963, according to the records. Alfayo Kigen, 72, a retired education officer, said Chemirmir told them how the killing of Koitalel arap Samoei in 1905 sparked fear, forcing natives to hide in caves for months. "When it came to food and drink, he was picky. He ate traditional foods and vegetables like African nightshade and drank muratina, a local beer. He frequently brewed his own traditional beer and drank with close friends, and there was no excessive drinking at his parties," Kigen says. When he was released from Kamiti Maximum Prison in the early 1940s, he reportedly walked nearly 300km. He learned to read and write in prison and purchased a Bible in Nairobi in 1944, which is still in good condition. Musa Aiyabei Koech arap Kirior, who died in 2013 at the age of 117, was also a colonial chief who reigned during a period of fear in Kenya. He collaborated with the colonial government for decades before the country gained independence in 1963, as did other colonial chiefs in Elgeyo Marakwet, the vast Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, and Nandi. Kirior exhibited rare camaraderie with the colonial administration, earning love and loathing in equal measure, according to his children, younger wives who are still alive today, and grandchildren. Kirior's family reveals the other side of a powerful man who carried the British government's aspirations, from being feared to marrying several wives. An elderly Rosebella Soti speaks highly of her late husband (arap Kirior). She says she could not resist his hand in marriage sometime in 1947. Every woman wanted to get married to him, she says. More than 80km away in Marakwet, a powerful chief, Kiptoo Chebasa, was Britain's blue-eyed boy. He served the colonial administration as chief from 1938 to 1963. Chebasa is said to have cleverly balanced diplomacy, coercion and force against resistant natives to push the colonial government's agenda. During Chebasa's 25-year-reign, public barazas were a must-attend and anyone who failed to show up was punished.

Colonial chiefs who helped establish British rule were cruel and no-nonsense

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