Moi's unique connection to the Marakwet

Former President Daniel arap Moi received by Kabarak University Deputy Vice Chancellor Mr Henry Kiplagat and other officials when he arrived at AIC Kabarak Community Chapel during church service. [File, Standard]

In mid 1930s, two men from the Marakwet community married two girls from Kabartonjo village in Baringo County, where former President Daniel arap Moi was born.

The two young men were Elijah Kilimo and Daudi Kisang. They have since died.

Kilimo coincidentally married Moi’s cousin, Ruth, creating a strong bond that culminated in the establishment of Marakwet’s oldest school, church and a mission hospital.

The institutions are Kapsowar Primary School, Kapsowar AIC Mission Hospital and the African Inland Church (AIC) Kapsowar, all established in 1934.

Where it all started

A family member, who is also a long serving cleric at the church, said it all began when Kilimo and Kisang visited Kapsowar trading centre in 1929 and were encouraged by missionaries to enroll in an African Mission School in Kapsabet, at least 115 kilometres away.

Pastor Edwin Suter of AIC Kapsowar explained how, after marrying Moi’s cousin and village mate, the two men maintained a relationship that made the former president a frequent visitor of Kapsowar in Marakwet County.

Pastor Suter said the two men came of age in 1939 after completing their primary education in Kapsabet, and because they studied at an African Inland Mission (AIM) school, they were encouraged to marry Christian girls.

According to the cleric, the men founded AIC Kapsowar after attaining training as pastors in Kapsabet. Moi would later frequent the church.

There were no Christian women in Marakwet

“Unfortunately, there were no Christian women in Marakwet. The young men were told to walk all the way to Kabartonjo, where young girls at an AIM station were paraded, and each asked to pick a wife. Kilimo picked a young lady who was later found to be Moi’s cousin. A wedding was later arranged and that was the beginning of a relationship with the Mois,” pastor Suter explained.

Moi also started his education at the African Mission School at Kabartonjo, where he became a Christian and adopted the name Daniel.

Suter says Kilimo would later become the founding teacher at Kapsowar Primary School, which was the first such institution in the vast Marakwet region.

According to records, the primary school was established by Reg Reynolds, who taught the young men in Kapsabet.

A medical doctor identified as Leigh Ashton, who was taken to Marakwet by Reynolds, founded Kapsowar Mission Hospital, a facility that has served several counties in the Rift Valley for close to a century.

He said Moi would later expand the mission hospital by establishing a modern maternity wing in 1981.

“Moi just surprisingly showed up in the church one Sunday in 1977, when he was vice president. He later came to open a maternity wing in 1981. We thank the two young men for establishing a relationship with him,” he said.

According to Suter, Moi cared so much about Kapsowar Mission Hospital that he stopped the transfer of a famous British doctor Brian Carson in 1994 after the local AIC protested the medic’s transfer to Botswana.

“Moi called the British High Commissioner and told him to tell Britain that he would not allow Carson’s transfer to Botswana. True to form, the transfer was reversed,” the cleric said.

He said Kapsowar Mission Hospital, now a Level Five referral facility, established a nursing school that was also launched by the country's second president in 2008.