The Non-Logoli descended tribes - Part I

On 31st October 1964, the chairperson of Saniaga Welfare Society, Matayo Ndanyi joined other elders at the home of Isaka Madafu, muMigango, in Idereri to discuss issues pertaining the rising inter-clans animosity. The meeting was chaired by Daudi Omido, muTemburi and minutes taken by Erasto Unziru, muMigango. In the meeting there also was Jackton Ng'odi, muYonga, Samuel Aziaya, muFunami and others.

The above information is documented in a pamphlet by the late Guga Hezekiah Kisia from Vokoli Village, Secretary of Saniaga Welfare Association, 1980s.

It was a heat that cooled not until 9th May 1988 when Chief Arthur Mambuya of East Maragoli convened a meeting at Chamakanga mainly to 'censor' some individuals and tribes with threats who were referred to as Ememi*.

Earlier on, on 29th of September 1930 Chief Paul Amiani had convened a meeting in aim to undo the 'mistakes' and hear matters arrising from colonial researchers documentation in 1920s. Batrumayo Jumba, muGu'ga and James M'mata, muYonga represented the "Zivwanyi" cluster of tribes in Maragoli.

The Zivwanyi is a tag that those who informed colonial research clustered as 'the other children of Murogori.' That a fifth son of Murogori was called Zivwanyi and progenitor to the other sub-clans. With main ones being muSali, muKizungu, muKirima and muMavi. This assertion was pleaded against that it were best the colonial authorities corrected at the earliest convenience.

A documentation of clans (sometimes referred as distinct tribes) all over in Maragoli, Tiriki, Nyang'ori (while still a location) and Nandi was compiled. Hezekiah Kisia writes that the document was placed in the hands of Chief Paul Agoi and perhaps disappeared in it. Agoi was a muRogovo by clan.

The two main questions would be, how was the first research to document the tribes of Murogori /Mulogoli, Logoli/ conducted and who were the informants? It would also lead to us understanding the nature of relationship these 'Zivwanyi' tribes had with the four stated clans, historical and also contemporary. Further on this, had there been an open desire to approach it as academic more information would have been unearthed unlike the sinister motives behind hiding information or keeping a people in the dark. Similar to presenting information, always with care to avoid impacts of misinterpretation.

The yearn to be documented alike and given an equal say is, as was the desire. And as our elders strove to get themselves read as others so shall their descendants stress on the same. For local history has its fare share of discrimination and marginalisation in the way leadership has been distributed, resources are allocated and justice is administered. The present Assistant Chief of Chavogere sub-location has openely spoken of the problems and allegations against his rise to the position, rooted in this ancestral Zivwanyi clustering.

Often have clans been called 'avamenya'. To mean, those who live at a place and not necessarily indigenous, hosted. Another interpretation is that they are indigenous indeed! Avamenyaa if stress is put at the last syllable. But Zivwanyi would mean 'bastards/illegal' - zie - irwanyi. And the Maragoli traditions have little love for children born out of wedlock. Girls get married. Such boys can only build down at the land slope, not at the upper side and they are not given leadership roles. This averts family curse. Whether it is true or not, other clans cannot be treated as such.

It is still in the suggestion of P. H. Gulliver that if anything, a tribe has different definitions. And none of the definitions sites language as a uniting factor. For presently one would quickly say Maragoli speakers than Maragoli people. A change from first Logoli coining. A people. And there are more than 38 clans of Maragoli whose ancestry is not in the four stated sons of Murogori.

Forward with collective documentation, we do ask about the true history of Maragoli in the following titles;

1. The Stateless Society of Maragoli

2. The Maragoli: A history of mingled tribes

Oscar Mudeng'ani and Lung'afa Igunza