Barsirian Arap Manyei was a Nandi leader who spent 42 years in detention under British rule, making him Kenya’s longest-serving political prisoner. His so-called crime was not theft or violence, but his unwavering opposition to colonial authority and his determination to lead his people in resisting foreign domination.
Barsirian was born in 1882 in Samitui, in today’s Aldai, Nandi County. He was the son of Koitalel Arap Samoei, the legendary Nandi Orkoiyot who fiercely resisted the British before being assassinated in 1905.
Barsirian grew up in a family marked by both tragedy and rebellion. Like other Nandi boys, he went through the traditional rite of passage and was inducted into the Nyongi age-set, which shaped his identity as a warrior and community leader.
When Barsirian arap Manyei was still a young boy, his life was forever changed by one of the most treacherous acts of colonial betrayal. On 19 October 1905, his father, Koitalel arap Samoei, was lured into a peace meeting by the British and shot dead at point-blank range by Richard Meinertzhagen. For the Nandi, this was more than the loss of a leader, it was the loss of their spiritual guide, their military strategist, and the man who had kept their resistance alive for over a decade. For Barsirian, it meant growing up in the shadow of a betrayal that would shape the rest of his life.
After Koitalel’s assassination, the British set out to break the Nandi leadership once and for all. His brothers and sons were hunted down, some killed, others banished, and many detained. By scattering and silencing the Orkoiyot’s family, the British colonial government hoped to crush the spirit of resistance in the community. Barsirian grew up watching his family torn apart by exile and imprisonment, a painful inheritance that planted in him the same rebellion that had defined his father.
In the years that followed, the British attempted to install puppet leaders. Kibeles, a relative, was appointed Orkoiyot in 1909 but died in 1912. Later, Barsirian’s elder brother Lelimo briefly became leader, but after only a few years, he was forced into hiding after killing one of his bodyguards who was spying for the British.
It was against this backdrop of broken leadership and colonial manipulation that Barsirian eventually rose to take up his father’s mantle as leader of the tribe.
In 1919, Barsirian Arap Manyei was chosen as the Orkoiyot, the supreme spiritual and political leader of the Nandi. He inherited not only the position but also the responsibility of guiding a people suffering under increasing colonial pressure.
The early 1920s brought unbearable strain. Land alienation displaced Nandi families, taxation tripled, and a devastating livestock quarantine cut off their economic lifeline. Adding insult to injury, forced labor conscription by the British further deepened resentment.
The anger boiled over into what came to be known as the Nandi Protest of 1923, the first organized resistance since the bloody wars of 1905–06.
By 1923, the Nandi were preparing for the saget ap eito, the sacred ceremony in which community leadership passed from one generation to the next. This ritual was not only a cultural milestone but also a moment of heightened warrior activity, as young men sought to prove their strength.
The British, already alarmed by growing unrest, interpreted the gathering as a cover for a massive armed uprising. Fearing another war, they struck first.
On 16 October 1923, just days before the ceremony, Barsirian Arap Manyei and four elders were arrested. They were deported to Meru, and permission to hold the saget ap eito was revoked.
From that day in 1923, Barsirian’s freedom was gone. He was shuttled between detention centers, Meru, Mfangano Island, and Kapsabet, cut off from his people for more than forty long years.
He was finally released in 1964, one year after Kenya gained independence from Britain. By then, he was frail, his youth and middle age consumed by captivity.
Barsirian returned to a changed Kenya, one where he no longer held authority or resources. Reports describe him living in poverty, struggling to provide for his large family, many of whom lived as squatters.
Barsirian Arap Manyei died on 10 April 1974, at nearly 80 years of age. He was buried at his wife Taplelei’s home in Lemoru Ngeny village, Uasin Gishu County.
Today, Barsirian Arap Manyei is remembered not just as the last Orkoiyot, but as a man who carried the heavy cost of resisting the British empire.
Sources:
https://danielsanthropology.com/papers/ageset2/KalenjinAgeSetCoordination.html
https://hivisasa.com/posts/1098-orkoiyot-barsirian-araap-manyei-kenyas-longest-serving-political-prisoner
