Tabaigoi’s death betrays Kenya’s blind eye to female freedom fighters

By Vincent Bartoo

The role of women in Kenya’s liberation struggle from colonialism is often overlooked with majority of feted heroes being men.

In life and after death, nothing much is said of them as many have either died or are living in their sunset years in utter neglect and abject poverty.

Majority of them were widowed with children to raise after their husbands were killed in the liberation struggle. Sadly, the nation has since independence turned a blind eye to them.

As a matter of fact, no monument in the country bears the figure of a woman in any landmark in the country. This manifests how their roles have failed to get recognition.

Like many before her, the death of Margaret Tabaigoi Bartiony, passed unnoticed by many and her burial on May 26 in Nandi County was a low key ceremony.

Her name may not ring a bell in the ears of many Kenyans, but Tabaigoi’s contribution to the defeat of the British colonialists should earn her a place in the country’s Hall of Fame.

Her burial in Sang’alo passed like any other, save for her family and a few guests who paid glowing tribute to the unsung liberation heroine.

Tabaigoi was the daughter-in-law of the legendary Nandi freedom fighter Koitalel arap Samoei who was a revered Orkoiyot (Seer) from the Talai community.

She was married to Koitalel’s nephew, the late Kipng’erechi Bartiony arap Buigut.

British enemy

Tabaigoi was instrumental in holding together the Talai community as their fathers and sons were sought after, detained and killed by the British colonialists.

Due to their divine powers as seers, the Talai became enemy number one of the British who viewed them as a threat to their colonial administration.

Before they ventured into Nandi, Koitalel saw in a pot a long snake spitting fire and smoke invading. His father Kipnyolei Arap Turugat would later interpret it.

His vision came true, only that it was the British who invaded Nandi and built a railway with trains (snake) that helped them colonise the area.

Koitaleel and his brothers then launched a resistance that saw them leave home to fight the British although many ended up detained and killed.

The women, like Tabaigoi, were left behind to fend for the families and this they did with extraordinary strength and courage.

Tabaigoi’s step son, David arap Saina, recalled how the late Tabaigoi would play hide and seek with the British colonialists who sought after boys and men from the Talai community to annihilate them.

“He would hide them because the British had appropriately branded them wizards and sorcerers to create more enemies against the Clan (Talai) including the host Nandi community,” he said.

White settlers

?Saina recalls an incident when Tabaigoi was spiriting boys from the community into hiding when white settlers pounced on them demanding to know whether the boys were from the Talai clan.

“She confidently told them off saying they were Nandi and were on an excursion. However on further prodding, the women who were with Tabaigoi got intimidated and gave them away leading to their detention,” Saina tells The Standard.

The British then started a plan to separate the older generation of the Talai with the younger ones, detaching them to have the latter lose identity.

“They took the young ones to Luoland to integrate them with the community there while leaving the older generation in detention areas in Nandi,” Saina adds with a faraway look.

George Samoei Kemboi, a grandson of Koitaleel arap Samoei, recalls his mother throwing him over to his aunt after they ran into a roadblock.

“We were going to rejoin my father, Barsirian arap Manyei who had escaped Nandi to go to Laikipia when we ran into the British along the way,” he said.

?Instinctively, his mother asked the aunt to quickly go through the check and catch the baby boy she would throw on the side of the vehicle they were travelling in.