The Trials in the Killing of the Nandi Orkoiyot Koitalel Arap Samoi

Abstract

The Nandi tribe resisted European colonisation in Western Kenya until the 1905 when the last British military campaign against them took place. At the beginning of the expedition, the spiritual and religious Nandi leader, orkoiyot Koitalel arap Samoi, was killed by Captain Richard Meinertzhagen. This work describes carefully the three trials which occurred after the accident. On the basis of court proceedings and Meinertzhagen’s diaries, the paper tries to ascertain the most probable course of events and who killed the orkoiyot. Furthermore, the author aims to establish whether Meinertzhagen was acting on his own or received an informal order from the commanders of the campaign. Finally, the article presents the political and military organisation of Nandi, their pre-colonial history and the political role of the orkoiyot in the tribe.