Product Code Database
The Kipsigis or Kipsigiis are a contingent of the Kalenjin people and speak a dialect of Kalenjin which is classified as a Nilotic language. Their dialect is identified by their community eponym, Kipsigis. The Kipsigis and another original group native to Kenya, known as Okiek people, appear to have a merged identity. The Kipsigis are the biggest sub tribe within the Kalenjin community. The latest population census in Kenya put the Kipsigis at 1,972,000 speakers, accounting for 45% of all Kalenjin speaking people. They occupy the highlands of Kericho stretching from Timboroa to the Mara River in the south and the Mau Escarpment in the east to . They also occupy parts of Laikipia County, Kitale, Nakuru, Narok, the Trans Mara District, Eldoret and the Nandi Hills.
Apart from the Kalenjin, the other tribe is the Datooga people of Western Tanzania. In their expansion southwards, the Kipsigis and the Tatonga people reached the present-day Shinyanga area in Western Tanzania only for the former group to return to the Kericho area before some went back south, but could only settle at Angata Barigoi in Trans Mara next to the Tanzanian Border. "type": "FeatureCollection",
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The IBEAC company and the British colonial government referred to the Kipsigis people as Lumbwa people and Kwavi people. The pre-colonial traditional occupations of the Kipsigis included semi-pastoral herding, military expeditions, and farming sorghum and millet. Post-colonial Kipsigis today still live predominantly in their historical tribal territory on the Western Highlands of Kenya at an altitude of 1500m to 2000m; they mainly grow Tea growing, undertake dairy farming and Maize. They also grow wheat, pyrethrum and coffee.
The "Lumbwa" (also known as Lumbua, Umpua, or Ilumbwa) were known for their cattle-keeping lifestyle, braided hairstyles, and perhaps the use of sunken livestock enclosures on the slopes of Mount Kenya. Meru oral traditions recall the Lumbwa as one of the early peoples encountered on the mountain, which the Kalenjin remember as Koilege—meaning “dappled rock”. Fadiman (1994) reported of " pits located along a line that runs roughly along the zone at 7,000–7,500 feet which delineates the lowest edge of the forest from the highest point in the star-grass (populated) zone which form an irregular line that can be followed from ridge to ridge, along a region that is largely farmland, but which two hundred years ago must have been thickly forested. The largest pits average 16 to 24 feet across." Certain traditions he collected recall that they may have been used to contain Umpua (or Agumba people) herds. Most traditions however recall the Agumba, a people who lived in association with the Lumbwa, as hunters.
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Ateker-related groups migrated southward from the north-eastern Rift Valley, bringing with them new clan systems, ritual practices, and military organization. The recently formed Ateker, calling themselves Loikop people (loosely - owners of the land) swept down from a base east of Lake Turkana and in short order took most of the best grazing plains in East Africa from their previous inhabitants (who included among them the Lumbwa). The Uasin Gishu, Laikipia, Mau, Amboseli and Serengeti plains all came under the sway of this new polity. However, written accounts as well as the oral traditions of the Nandi and Kipsigis record the 'reconquest' of the Uasin Gishu plateau, Narok and Bomet, a process that included the assimilation of the 'Maasai' that had latterly occupied them. This fusion gave rise to new identities—including the Kipsigis and Nandi—who nonetheless retained deep Lumbwa roots. Both communities maintain clan traditions linking them to both Lumbwa heritage and Ateker ancestry.
In the 19th century, the term "Lumbwa" was used widely by neighboring Maasai and Bantu-speaking communities to refer to both Kalenjin-speaking and Loikop-related pastoralists. As the identity fused, it came to refer especially to the Kipsigis, who had begun to shift from pastoralism toward an agro-pastoral way of life. Among the Maasai, “Ilumbwa” (meaning "well-diggers") eventually gained pejorative undertones, reflecting cultural differences around land use and livelihood.
By the mid-19th century, the term "Lumbwa" had become closely associated with the Kipsigis, though it was gradually dropped due to its pejorative connotation in Maa-speaking contexts.
The Kipsigis people's oral tradition is observed to have a rich background in songs. Many of their oral traditions feature a creature known as 'Chemosi', usually referred to in western texts and culture as the Nandi bear; a monstrous ape-like basic-intelligence creature which also feature among other communities of Kenya, Uganda and parts of Congo. A western adventurer Edgar Beecher Bronson claims to have seen a creature that he notes the Lumbwa people referred to as Dingonek. He describes it as a water creature whose features include an armadillo-like, leopard-patterned, hippo-sized back and a leopard's head with two large protruding fangs. He reports that the Lumbwa and the Wadoko peoples spoke of such a creature in the Maggori River then provides an account of his sighting of the said creature. His is the only account of such a creature.
Food and drinks
The meals mainly consist of a cooked, thick paste of elusine flour, vegetables or meat, a blend of milk and cow blood, or milk. The Kipsigis ferment milk in gourds with powdered popcorn flower tree cinders. The sour milk is known as Mursiik. The tribe also brewed Nubian gin and it was reserved for men and women in and past middle age.
Mushrooms
The Kipsigis are known to gather Termitomyces tylerianus, Termitomyces umkowaan and Termitomyces microcarpus (puunereek).
The Kipsigis call a month 'Arawet', which is also the term for our satellite, the moon. A year is called 'Kenyit' which can be derived from the phrase 'Ki-nyit' meaning 'to accomplish, to fill in'. A year was marked by the order of months and more importantly by ceremonial and religious celebration of the yearly harvest which was held at the various shrines. This event being analogous to a practice observed by most of the other Africans has inspired the Kwanzaa celebrated by predominantly by people of African descent in the United States. Kenyit started in February. It had two seasons known as olto (pl. oltosiek) and was divided into twelve months, arawet (pl. arawek).Hollis A.C, The Nandi – Their Language and Folklore. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1909, p. 94 In place of a decade is the order of Ibinda which is usually between 10 and 17 years. In place of a century is the completion of the age set which takes between 100 and 120 years.
The first season of the year, olt-ap-iwot (iwotet), was the wet season and ran from March to August. The dry season, olt-ap-keme (kemeut), ran from September to February. The kipsunde and kipsunde oieng harvest ceremonies were held in September and October respectively to mark the change in Seasons.Hollis A.C, The Nandi – Their Language and Folklore. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1909, p. 46
| + !Set ! !Years !Western equivalent !Notes | ||||
| Nyongi | 1st cycle | 1783 to 1801 (19 years) | Plausible adoption era of circumcision and initiation | |
| 2nd cycle | 1905 to 1920 (16 yrs) | Interbellum Generation/The Greatest Generation | ||
| 3rd cycle | 2019 onwards | Gen Alpha | Social Network generation | |
| Maina | 1st cycle | 1802 to 1819 (18 yrs) | ||
| 2nd cycle | 1921 to 1936 (16 yrs) | Silent Generation | King's African Rifles and world war era generation | |
| Chumo | 1st cycle | 1820 to 1836 (17 yrs) | ||
| 2nd cycle | 1937 to 1951 (15 yrs) | Silent Generation/Baby Boomer Generation | ||
| Sawe | 1st cycle | 1837 to 1853 (17 yrs) | Remembered for the failed war of Ng'oino | |
| 2nd cycle | 1952 to 1966 (15 yrs) | Baby Boomer Generation | Post war and independence era | |
| Kerongoro | 1st cycle | 1854 to 1870 (17 yrs) | ||
| 2nd cycle | 1967 to 1981 (15 yrs) | Generation X /Xennials | ||
| Kaplelach | 1st cycle | 1871 to 1887 (17 yrs) | The Lost Generation | Remembered for the failed war of Mogori |
| 2nd cycle | 1982 to 1999 (18 yrs) | Xennials/ Millennials | Daniel Moi's free primary education era | |
| Kipnyige | 1st cycle | 1888 to 1904 (17 yrs) | Interbellum Generation | |
| 2nd cycle | 2000 to 2018 (19 yrs) | Generation Z | Technology and civil liberties generation |
Kokwet was the most significant political and judicial unit among the Kipsigis. The governing body of each kokwet was its kok (village council). Kokwet denotes a geographic cluster of settlement similar in concept to a village. Kok elders were the local authority for arbitration and conflict resolution.Snell, G.S, Nandi Customary Law, (Kenya Literature Bureau: 1954), p.10
The Kipsigis armies organized themselves into four regiments (pororiosiek) namely: Kikaige, Ng'etunyo, Kebeni and Kasanet. Recruitment into the regiments was achieved through the age set and clan system. Each regiment fought independently which often resulted in weak and often conflicting strategies. At a later stage, the four regiments merged into two consisting of Kipkaige and Kasanet on the one side and Ng'etunyo and Kebeni on the other; but ultimately, the strength of this army was tested with a resounding defeat at the hands of Gusii in the battle of Ngoina dated to circa 1850. Once again, the Kipsigis army regiments regrouped into one force composed equally of all four regiments and while this development would spur a record of victories, it would also be tested in the battle of Mogori circa 1890 with a defeat that had dire implications on the spirit and identity of the Kipsigis.
Other studies depict a more elaborate military organization; for instance, there were an extra tire of regiments and ranks including: the generals (Kiptayat/Kiptaiinik), spies ( Yotiik, Seegeik and Sogooldaiik), and the procession ranks ( Ng'anymetyeet, Pirtiich, Oldimdo/Lumweet and Kipeelbany). There were yearly mock up practice for warring called Kaambageet.
The arms of the fighting men usually consisted of a spear, shield, sword and club. By the late 19th century, up to four kinds of spears, representing various eras and areas were in use. In Nandi, the eren-gatiat, of the Sirkwa era was still in use though only by old men. It had a short and small leaf-shaped blade with a long socketed shank and a long butt. Two types of the Maasai era spear, known as ngotit, were also in use. Those of the eastern, northern and southern counties had long narrow blades with long iron butt, short socket and short shaft. Those of the central county (emgwen) had short broad blades with short iron butts. In the western counties, a spear that had a particularly small head, a long shaft and no butt was in use, it was known as ndirit.Hollis A.C, The Nandi – Their Language and Folklore. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1909, p. 31 The pastoral Pokot carried two Maasai era spears, known as ngotwa while the agricultural sections armed themselves with a sword, known as chok.Beech M.W.H, The Suk – Their Language and Folklore. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1911, p.1
Archery was also very much a prominent skill practiced among the Kipsigis for purposes ranging from agriculture to defense and security. There were an array of arrows for various specialties such as for shooting a bull for blood, hunting arrows and defensive arrows meant either as a deterrent by causing mortal wounds or others meant to get stuck in the victim while others were poisoned and thus each of the arrow types were used depending on the occasion.
Considered special and thought to have out-of-worldly powers, the three were pushed into leadership and for the first time in Kipsigis history, they were able to hold positions that can be equalled to a king or leaders of autonomous regions. Their influence led to expansion of the Kipsigis territory adding to the achievements of Menya Araap Kisiara. They were also considered herbal medicinemen and thus acquired wealth from war reparation and pay for medical services. They went on to have very sedentary lifestyles with their homesteads employing several servants and a primitive equivalent of slaves.
Following the Lumbwa treaty between Kipsigis and The British, the three brothers were arrested and would, in about 1903, be deported to Kikuyu-land while their siblings and immediate families consisting of about 700 individuals were banished to Gwassi in Homa Bay County and stayed there excommunicated between 1934 and 1962. They were later on resettled in Kablilo, Sigowet-Soin, Kiptere, Ainamoi, Belgut and some few in Emgwen.
Among the Kipsigis, there is speculative talk that implicates Daniel Arap Moi and Jomo Kenyatta as having relations with the Orgoik.
He is reported or speculated to have fathered a boy to a widow who used to herd cattle, she was known as Wambui. The boy is reported to have been named Jomo Kenyatta. She then moved to a farm in Nyeri where she married Muigai but who later divorced her because of issues associated with .
In 1913, Chebochok Kiptonui Arap Boiso and his two brothers were banished to Muranga County and Nyeri. Coincidentally, Wambui was assigned the role to look after the three brothers by the Europeans.
Seeing the long-drawn-out resistance of the Nandi led by Koitalel Araap Samoei, the intelligence officer Richard Meinertzhagen, vowed to break the impasse. In the middle of 1905, a punitive raid led by Major Richard Pope-Hennessy killed 1,850 men, women, and children who were rounded up and fired upon indiscriminately with a Maxim gun and other weapons. The massacre was ostensibly in retaliation against the refusal by the Sotik people to heed an ultimatum by the British government to return cattle raided from the Maasai. It is noted that medal of honours were awarded to officers who took part in these operations around the same time. (2025). 9781408697122, Read Books. ISBN 9781408697122
Some months later on 19 October 1905, Richard Meinertzhagen tricked Koitalel into what was effectively an ambush and shot him at point-blank range, killing him on the spot and the rest of his entourage. With Koitalel dead, the Nandi resistance was neutralized, and the British proceeded to evict the Kipsigis and Nandi from their land and sent them to areas that were largely unfit for human habitation. The Sotik massacre and the assassination of Koitalel were directly linked to the setting aside of Sotik for European settlement and the colonial system of forced labour, punitive taxes for Africans, economic, and racial segregation. It is disingenuous to argue that it was a buffer zone to keep warring African tribes apart.
In August 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, Claudia Webbe, Member of Parliament for Leicester East wrote in a letter addressed to UK's Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, about Sotik Massacre and asked that the massacre should be taught in British schools.
Primary contributing factors were the land alienation of 1920 and a steep increase in taxation, taxation tripled between 1909 and 1920 and because of a change in collection date, two taxes were collected in 1921. The Kipsigis and Nandi refused to pay and this amount was deferred to 1922. Further, due to fears of a spread of rinderpest following an outbreak, a stock quarantine was imposed on the Nandi Reserve between 1921 and 1923. The Nandi, prevented from selling stock outside the Reserve, had no cash, and taxes had to go unpaid. Normally, grain shortages in Nandi were met by selling stock and buying grain. The quarantine made this impossible. The labour conscription that took place under the Northey Circulars only added to the bitterness against the Kenya Colony.
All these things contributed to a buildup of antagonism and unrest toward the government between 1920 and 1923. In 1923, the saget ab eito (sacrifice of the ox), a historically significant ceremony where leadership of the community was transferred between generations, was to take place. This ceremony had always been followed by an increased rate of cattle raiding as the now formally recognized warrior age-set sought to prove its prowess. The approach to a saget ab eito thus witnessed expressions of military fervor and for the ceremony all Nandi males would gather in one place.
Alarmed at the prospect and as there was also organized protest among the Kikuyu people and Luo at that time, the colonial government came to believe that the Orkoiyot was planning to use the occasion of the Saget ab eito of 1923 as a cover under which to gather forces for a massive military uprising. On 16 October 1923, several days before the scheduled date for the saget ab eito, the Orkoiyot Barsirian Arap Manyei and four other elders were arrested and deported to Meru. Permission to hold the ceremony was withdrawn and it did not take place, nor has it ever taken place since. The Orkoiyot Barsirian Arap Manyei would spend the next forty years in political detention, becoming Kenya's, and possibly Africa's, longest-serving political prisoner.
A song "Chemirocha" collected by ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey in 1950 from the Kipsigis in Kapkatet in Kericho was written in honour of Jimmie Rodgers. The song's title is an approximation of the musician's name. According to legend, tribe members were exposed to Rodgers' music through British soldiers during World War II. Impressed by his yodeling, they envisioned Rodgers as "a faun, half-man and half-antelope." "Chemirocha III" is credited to "Chemutoi Ketienya with Kipsigis girls", and was described by Tracey as "humorous" in his notes. "Chemirocha III" is included on Tracey's "The Music of Africa: Musical Instruments 1: Strings" LP, from 1972.
Kimursi, an actor in the 1950 adventure film: King Solomon's Mines, is credited as being of Kipsigis ethnicity. In the cast, he took on the role of Khiva.
The Kenyan long-distance runner Ezekiel Kemboi danced to a Kalenjin hit single, "Emily Chepchumba", during the 2011 IAAF Daegu World championship, after crossing the finish line in the 3000 metres steeplechase and during the London Summer Olympics held in August 2012, after crossing the finish line in the 3000 metre steeple chase finals and winning gold. The song was written, sang and recorded by a Kipsigis artist, Bamwai.
Taaitta Toweett was a Kipsigis elite and political leader. He was awarded scholarship by the Kipsigis County Council in 1955 to the South Devon Technical College, Torquay, to study for a diploma in public and social administration. He obtained a B.A. (1956) and B.A. (Hons) 1959 from the University of South Africa. On his return from Britain in 1957, he was appointed Community Development Officer for Nandi District, the first African CDO to be recruited locally in Kenya. During this period was the editor of the Kipsigis vernacular magazine Ngalek Ap Kipsigisiek, published quarterly. He was one of the eight original Africans elected to the Legislative Council in 1958 as Member for the Southern Area, a constituency comprising mainly Kipsigis and Maasai Districts. He formed Kalenjin Political Alliance Party that later on got into an alliance with KADU. He served on the Dairy Board and played a crucial role in the foundation of the co-operative movement nationally. In 1960, 1962, 1963 he attended the Lancaster House Conferences held in London to draft Kenya's Constitution, paving the way for complete self-rule. Before Kenya's independence, he was appointed Assistant Minister for Agriculture (1960), Minister of Labour and Housing in 1961 and Minister of Lands, Surveys and Town Planning in 1962. After Kenya's Independence, he was appointed Minister for Education in 1969, Minister for Housing and Social Services in 1974, Minister for Education in 1976. He was also elected President of the 19th General Assembly of UNESCO (1976–1978). In 1977, he finished his PhD thesis on "A Study of Kalenjin Linguistics". In 1980, he was appointed as the chairperson of Kenya Literature Bureau. In 1983–1985, he served as the Charperson, Kenya Airways after which he was appointed the chairperson, Kenya Seed Company. He also served as a director of the Kenya Times newspaper and went on to edit and publish his own newspaper, Voice of Rift Valley, between 1997 and 2000.
Professor Jonathan Kimetet Araap Ngeno was a Kipsigis elite who was sponsored by African Inland Church from Litein to study in the United States. He was invited back to Kenya and reintegrated by Daniel arap Moi to achieve political attrition over Taaitta Toweett. He was appointed to Ministerial positions and was elected the Fourth Speaker of the Parliament of Kenya succeeding coincidentally his baghuleita (a male agemate who was initiated in the same seclusion home), Moses Kiprono arap Keino.
In the 1990s, Professor Davy Kiprotich Koech by then the Director of Kenya Medical Research Institute and Dr. Arthur O. Obel, the Chief Research Officer published in two medical journals the initial results of the newfound drug "Kemron" that was perceived from the preliminary study of 10 patients to cure AIDS. The drug was introduced in a public ceremony presided by Kenya's former President, Daniel Toroitch Arap Moi and the work of the new wonder drug discovered was hailed as a major step against HIV/AIDS. Kemron was the trade name for a low-dose of alpha interferon, manufactured form of a natural body chemical in a tablet form that dissolves in the mouth. Clinical trials of Kemron funded by WHO in five African Countries did not find any health benefits reported by Kemri Scientists. Thereafter, WHO in a press release in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, termed Kemron as an experimental drug of unproven benefit for HIV/AIDS treatment. The American National Institute of Health concluded that no one had been able to duplicate the effects claimed by scientists behind Kemron. In 1998 Prof. Davy Koech led the Commission of Inquiry into the Education System of Kenya. Hosted by Kenya Broadcasting Cooperation (KBC) in 2019, Prof. Koech cited bad peer review on his experimental drug and that he was currently overseeing reexamination of Kemron and further research in China.
Richard Mibey has discovered more than 120 species of fungi, made major input to the discovery of environmentally friendly fungi for bio-control of the obnoxious water hyacinth weed in Lake Victoria has contributed to the preservation of rare and highly specialised micro-fungi of Kenyan plants.
Paul Chepkwony, the incumbent governor of Kericho County has declared in a Kenyan comedy show, Churchill Show (hosted in Tea Hotel Kericho in 2018) a lengthy list pending and granted patents on various fields of Biochemistry.
Dr Richard Kiprotich Chepkwony is a Kenyan wildlife ecologist of Kipsigis origin and currently the Senior Assistant Director at the Kenya Wildlife Service and the State Department of Wildlife, Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage. He hails from Cheborgei Bureti Sub-County, Kericho County. He studied at Chepsir Primary school in Kericho East. He was awarded a scholarship by the Interdisciplinary Research Fund INREF-CCGIAR-EVOCA programme in 2016 to the Wageningen University and Research (WUR) in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, from where he obtained his doctorate degree in wildlife Ecology and Innovations in 2021. He is an alumnus of Kaplong Boys' High School in Bomet County and Moi University Eldoret, Kenya, where he obtained his bachelor's and Master of Science degrees in wildlife management and Ecology. He has also studied environmental sciences at Tokyo International centre, Japan; Information technology at the Kenya School of Government; Kenya Wildlife Service Law Enforcement Academy-Manyani, among others. He has published widely in the fields of ticks and tick-borne diseases, technology and innovation, Spatial biopolitics of infectious disease control, human-wildlife interactions and Plant Ecology. He is supervising PhD and master's students from Wageningen University and Research. He has a vast knowledge of human-wildlife coexistence, spanning more than 23 years.
In 2008, the Kibaki regime through the then Prime Minister Raila Odinga ordered evictions to be effected by October 2008 in order to protect the forest from destruction. The order was opposed by several Rift Valley politicians led by Isaac Ruto. The then Agriculture Minister William Ruto, proposed evictees be allocated land elsewhere. Later, Environment Minister John Michuki would reverse the order. Subsequently, in 2008, there was a political row over the resettlement of people in the Mau Forest who had been allocated land in the 1980s and 1990s.
Allocations of land made by the Kenyan Government under Taaitta Toweett and Daniel arap Moi to the Talai clansmen has been reported to be grabbed and commercialised by corrupt agents and thus, those living in Kericho live in hardship and poverty.
After a comprehensive risk assessment of social, economic and political factors that increase the likelihood of genocide in Kenya, the Sentinel Project for Genocide Prevention's May 2011 report identified several risk factors including; a low degree of democracy, isolation from the international community, high levels of military expenditure, severe government discrimination or active repression of native groups, socioeconomic deprivation combined with group-based inequality and a legacy of intergroup hatred among other risk factors.
In 2018 particularly, the Uhuru government under the Minister of Lands evicted a section of the Mau Complex settlers who are mainly of Kipsigis ethnicity. The evictions were particularly forceful, inconsiderate, inhuman and without compensation. A major section of the Maasai leaders supported the evictions and are said or known to have committed hate speech. In the wake of the polarisation, the Maasai are reported to have attacked Kipsigis evictees and in retaliation, Kipsigis men in Narok and Bomet counties retaliated. The battles implored the use of crude or/and traditional weaponry including nuts (a nut used to fit to a screw fitted onto a wooden handle about a foot and a half long), spears, bows and arrows, swords and torches (or at least, petrol/gasoline and lighters).
Following the 2018 evictions and Maasai-Kipsigis clashes, several human-rights defenders came together to file a paper in protest of the human-rights violations committed by the Kenyan government in evicting people from the forests; it said in part, "The actions of the Government of Kenya in forcibly evicting tens of thousands of people from forests violates a range of human rights, which are contained in international instruments to which Kenya is a State Party." Kenyan lawyer Leonard Sigey Bett filed a petition with the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands challenging the evictions. Environmental conservation groups generally support the eviction of people from the forest, but only if the exercise is done amicably and humanely.
World War I
World War I is inferred among the Kipsigis as '
Nandi Protest of 1923
A number of factors taking place in the early 1920s led to what has come to be termed the Nandi Protest or Uprisings of 1923. It was the first expression of organized resistance by the Nandi since the Nandi Resistance.
9789966570192, Spotlight Publishers (EA) Limited. ISBN 9789966570192 One of the foremost Kipsigis colonial Chiefs was Cheborge Arap Tengecha. Although he was sometimes fondly referred to as “Kiprany-tich,” meaning he stood up to colonial excesses, this nom de guerre was countermanded by his alleged heavy-handedness and “unbridled” obsequiousness towards the colonial authorities. Nevertheless, Arap Tengecha can be credited with some positive deeds that helped transform the Kipsigis society in a changed world of colonial domination. First, the man, born about 1892, embraced literacy by accepting to go to school, unlike his peers. His capacity to read and write earned him a place in the colonial law courts and civil service as an interpreter based at the Kericho District Commissioner’s office. He served under District Commissioners, Cecil M. Dobbs, Sydney Hubert La Fontaine, George Henry C. Boulderson, T. H. Hinkinson, among others.
As an acknowledgement of his prowess as an interpreter, Arap Tengecha was sent to Kerendei in Maasailand (Narok) in 1921 to continue his work there, having mastered the Maa language and other languages such as Kisii, Luo and Swahili. In 1934, he was appointed to the exalted position of Chief of Bomet Location where he excelled in his new position as an administrator and enforcer of colonial policies. When the district administration was reorganised by District Commissioner Henry G. Gregory-Smith in 1946, Chief Tengecha, now a top favourite of the colonial government, was appointed the Chief of Bureti Location where he served until his retirement in 1961. In recognition of his “illustrious career” at his retirement, Queen Elizabeth II of England conferred on Chief Tengecha the coveted OBE (Order of the British Empire).
World War II
With the German, Italian and Japanese threat at the borders of the British Empire, many people were dragged into military service during World War II. In East Africa, a huge number of Kenyans were recruited to serve in the Burma and Ethiopian Campaigns. Known to the Kipsigis as '
Post-independence
Emerging socio-cultural trends and dynamics
The Kipsigis culture and heritage has transformed and attritioned initially as a result of the contact with British colonialists and a remarkable switch to Christianity, forsaking the belief in Asiis or incorporating some aspects of their traditional religion into Christianity. Later on, a formal colonial government meant the tribe had to comply with government rules and laws which in part vitiated some traditional norms such as warring and raiding neighboring antagonistic tribes. After independence, the declining of adherence to culture and heritage subsisted, significantly, the banning of female genital mutilation led to abandonment of initiation of girls while schooling limited the period of time boys spent in seclusion during initiation; apparently, because of the spread of HIV and the devastating impact associated as some of the first cases were reported in Kenya in the late 1980s, circumcision of boys was promoted and as a result, the custom of initiation of boys persisted.
Music, film and written arts
Contemporary Kalenjin music has long been influenced by Kipsigis producers, artistes, and musicians leading to Kericho's perception as a cultural innovation center in Kenya and effectively in the Great-Lakes Region of Africa.The King of Kalenjin gospel, Daily Nation Community introspection reveals how Chepalungu constituency has beaten the odds to carve a niche for itself as the home of Kalenjin secular artistes. One notable Raphael Kipchamba arap Tapotuk was a luminary artiste, songwriter and producer credited as being a forebearer of Kalenjin pop culture often manifesting his works as folk song, country, and jazz. His music records are beloved by the entirety of Kalenjin; Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, William Ruto and a host of Kalenjin leaders and celebrities in attending Kipchamba's funeral in his home in Chepalungu, 14 April 2007 remarked the might and their love for the artiste.
Sports
Kalenjin are reputable as an ethnic conglomerate endemic with athletic prowess. The Kipsigis, the most populous tribe among the Kalenjin has had a culture of sportsmanship among its population and through the years, there have been excellent sportsmen and sportswomen from the tribe. It is believed that genetic predisposition, altitude and environmental adaptation, diet, poverty and all-inclusive training philosophy contribute to the success of Kalenjin sportspersons.
+ Table of Notable Kipsigis Sportspersons
!Notable Sportsperson
!Achievements
!Notes Wilson Kiprugut
Kipkurui Misoi
David Kimutai
Joyce Chepchumba
William Chirchir
John Cheruiyot Korir
Cornelius Chirchir
Paul Kipsiele Koech
Edwin Soi
Caroline Kilel
Emily Chebet
Mercy Cherono
Peter Cheruiyot Kirui Lineth Chepkurui Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot Hellen Chepngeno Paskalia Chepkorir Kipkoech John Korir Kipsang Nicholas Kipkirui Harambee Stars player contracted to Gor Mahia Dominic Kiprono contracted to Zoo Kericho F.C Isaac Kipyegon contracted to Zoo Kericho F.C Aldrine Kibet player at RC Celta de Vigo
Science and academia
It is observed that among the Kipsigis, knowledge is measured binomially where to be thought of as knowledgeable, ng’om, one has to display the application of the corresponding knowledge. In academia, the 'Kipsigis' word or eponym has inspired the nomenclature of an extinct genus of East African antelope from the middle Miocene (Kipsigicerus). Other academic terms associated with the Kipsigis include Acraea sotikensis and Sotik lion ( Panthera leo melanochaita).
/ref> and as Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology before being appointed the chief executive officer, National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation. He was awarded Head of State's Commendations in the year 2008 for his distinguished service to the nation and subsequently awarded with the Order of the Grand Warrior, OGW in the year 2016 Prof. Moses Rugut has authored, co-authored or authored publications alongside other authors. Some of these publications include: Seroepidemiological survey of Taenia saginata cysticercosis in Kenya; Diagnosis of Taenia saginata cysticercosis in Kenyan cattle by antibody and antigen ELISA; Anthelmintic resistance amongst sheep and goats in Kenya and Epidemiology and control of ruminant helminths in the Kericho Highlands of Kenya.
Gladys Ngetich is a Kenyan engineer of Kipsigis origin, and a Rhodes scholar pursuing a doctorate degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. She is the recipient of the Tanenbaum Fellowship and the Babaroa Excellence Award. In 2018, Ngetich was credited with a patent in collaboration with Rolls-Royce Plc. Her research work has been in BBC Science and the Oxford Science Blog and Medium. She received the ASME IGTI Young Engineer Turbo Expo Participation Award, for her paper at the 2018 Annual American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) conference. In September 2018, Business Daily Africa named Ngitech among its "Top 40 Under 40 Women in Kenya in 2018". In 2019 she started investigating sustainable space science using a Schmidt Science Fellowship. Ngetich is the co-founder of the ILUU, a Nairobi-based non-profit that aims to inspire girls and women.
Politics
Community politics
The Kipsigis community is a rich political arena. The Kipsigis present themselves in a united political front along with their kin, the Kalenjin mass. With the leadership of Daniel Moi, Kalenjin community took a leftist form and were in favour of devolved governance under the alias Majimboism. When Moi became the president of Kenya, Kalenjins shifted to a right-wing front with solemn support for Moi and his government. During Moi's regime, incidences of politically motivated violence took place and Kipsigis for the most part were touted as perpetrators. Under Mwai Kibaki, Kipsigis and Kalenjin in entirety took a passive political approach which then bounced back to a roller coaster of leftist and right-wing support in allegiance to the rising star of Kalenjin Politics, Dr. William Samoei Ruto.
Prominent leadership
Presidency
Whilst the Kipsigis tribe consider Jomo Kenyatta as the spurious love child of the Kipsigis Orkoiyot, Chebochok Kiptonui Arap Boiso, they aspire to present Kenya with a president. Apparently. William Ruto, Kipsigis in origin and from Komosi clan has served in various ministerial positions, and as the Deputy President of Kenya under Uhuru Kenyatta's presidency. As of August 2022, William Ruto was announced the winner of the Kenyan 2022 general elections and after a court appeal by the defeated candidate, Raila Odinga, Ruto's win was upheld. William Ruto was inaugurated in September 2022 as the fifth president of the Kenya and is currently the incumbent president.
Ambassadors
Speaker of Parliament
Cabinet Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries
There have been a number of cabinet ministers and cabinet secretaries from the Kipsigis ethnicity. A number of them include
MAU Settlement Programs and evictions
The Kipsigis initial settlement was at Tulwaap Kipsigis in Londiani; strategically, the hill makes up part of the Mau Forest reserve in Kenya. The Kipsigis believe they have a 'god-given' claim upon the forest which alludes to the adoption at some point in the Kipsigis history of the aboriginal hunter-gatherer tribe, the Okiek who are native to a region between Mount Kenya stretching up all the way to Mau Forest in Rift Valley. Mau crisis started when the trust land was allocated to group ranches between the 1980s and 1990s who were mainly ethnic Maasai elite during Daniel Moi's Kanu era. The problem exacerbated about when the group ranches went beyond the cutline and occupied forest land. Part of the Mau Forest was initially a trust land under the defunct Narok County Council. Traditionally, the forest has been inhabited by the Ogiek. However, due to immigration from other ethnic groups, large parts of the forest area were cleared for settlement. In 2004, the famous Ndungu Report listed these land allocations, terming them illegal and recommended their revocation of them. Some evictions were done between 2004 and 2006 without a resettlement option. In 2005, the government placed a caveat on all title deeds issued to claimants, saying they were irregularly issued.
Redress for violations by British colonial government
In 2017, a consortium from the Kipsigis community organised by Paul Chepkwony and led by Karim Ahmad Khan sought redress for human rights violations committed by the British government during the colonial period. The plaintiffs were more than 100,000 ethnic Kipsigis victims and the members of Oretab Talai.
Provisions for Oorgoiik
The Oretab Talai clansmen returned or continued to peacefully live with Kipsigis people after independence. After the campaign of AIM and Catholic church the Talai clansmen were sidelined and hated but today, they exist peacefully with the Kipsigis and take upon the identity of the Kipsigis equally like any other clansmen. Notably, the residents of Chepalungu constituency (today's Sotik and Chepalungu constituencies) voted in Tamason Barmalel, the grandson of Koitalel Arap Samoei, as their MP between 1969 and 1974.
Conflicts and violence
While fairly known for a disposition to be welcoming and hospitable, the Kipsigis are also infamous in Kenya for having participated or led offensive stance during some of Kenya's ethnic violence where in some, ethnic cleansing was a characteristic. The overarching cause for this violence has primarily been discriminatory politics, land contentions and incitement. The Kipsigis amass into the Kalenjin group which in totality portray a united political alliance thus making them subject to discrimination and incitement. Secondary intrinsic factors for violence machinate through a condition of sinuosity jumbled up between historical injustices, conceitedness from historical precolonial war efforts and demographics where unemployment is rife among the youth and a majority of the population is disadvantaged and disenfranchised economically.
1992 skirmishes
In 1992, a series of events contributed to a feeling of uncertainty in Kenya, these events included widespread charges of government corruption that had brought halts or cuts in the flow of foreign aid upon which Kenya's economy depended on, and protests against the government of President Daniel arap Moi that resulted in police attacks on demonstrators. Forby, under diplomatic pressure, the KANU regime under Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi caved to the political demand and need for multi-party democracy. Prior to 1992 elections, because of their support for the nascent opposition, KANU affiliates incited Kalenjin against Kikuyu around the idea that Kikuyu were non-indigenous and had appropriated Kalenjin land. As a result, ethnic cleaning campaigns before during and after the 1992 general elections erupted in a bid out of spite for the out-group and phobia for the tribal claim on land. According to some accounts 779 people were killed and about 56,000 displaced.
2008 post-election violence
In January and February 2008, following the 2007 Kenyan general elections, post-election violence spontaneously erupted throughout the country but in the Rift Valley province; the violence span out and evolved from acts of riots and protests to all out violence against the Kisii people and Kikuyu people communities who were affiliated to the Mwai Kibaki's PNU party. A characteristic of the violence it seemed was to expel the out-groups but not necessarily to kill. There was also looting of businesses and firms run by the out-groups as well as on some government properties. The pattern of violence subsequently showed planning and organization by politicians, businessmen, village leaders and local leaders, who enlisted criminal gangs to execute the violence. This was particularly the case in Rift Valley and Nairobi. In Naivasha, Nakuru and the slum areas of Nairobi, Kikuyu gangs were mobilized and used to unleash violence against Luo people, Luhya people and Kalenjin people, and to expel them from their rented residences. In many instances the police action added to the violence, with considerable evidence that officers took sides and used terror tactics against slum dwellers. In some instances, sexual violence took the form of individual and gang rapes and female and male genital mutilation.
2018 Maa-Kipsigis skirmishes
The Maasai and the Kipsigis have historically and traditionally antagonised each other right from and a period earlier than the Maasai era. This usually manifested as cattle raids, eventual battles and the subsequent southward thwarting and ejection of the Maasai. After Kenya's independence, there have been periodic tensions between the Maasai and the Kipsigis which have backgrounds in history and traditions and fuelled by political incitement especially during the elections period. Politicians have been said to fuel the clashes with their remarks, both in public forums and on social media. In 2018 for instance, Narok County Senator Olekina Ledama, part of the Maasai community, has been criticised for remarks about the evictions.
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