Koitalel Arap Samoei is still a big name and a hero among the Nandi community and the Kalenjins in general even after his death hundreds of years down the line.
Samoei was born at around 1860 and was the youngest son of Kimnyole Arap Turukat who was a prophet.
Koitalel as he was and is still famously known prophesied that a black ‘snake’ would tear through Nandiland and it would be spitting fire.
This, he articulated, would change Nandi people way of life. However, the entry of the Europeans and construction of Kenya -Uganda railway across Nandi land between 1890 and 1906 fulfilled Koitalel’s prophesy.
The Nandi community under the leadership of Koitalel were ready to safeguard their cultures and land and they put up an eleven-year strong resistance against the British.
Going down Kenya's history, this was the longest and strongest resistance the British government experienced in Kenya.
On Thursday, October 1905 at around 11:00 am, Koitalel Samoei together with other 21 Nandi warriors were shot dead by British Colonel Richard Meinhertzhagen after they we tricked since Meinertzhagen had invited Koitalel to negotiate a truce – using that ruse to lure the Nandi leader for the fatal ambush.
The death of Koitalel Samoei weakened the Nandi resistance and a few years later, the colonialists penetrated and settled in the Nandi. It is believed that the whites made away with Koitalel Arap Samoei’s head.
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