Talai Community now disputes installation of Gideon Moi as Kalenjin elder

Five clans from the Talai Community in Kapsisiywa, Nandi County have come out to dispute the installation of Baringo County Senator Gideon Moi as a Kalenjin elder.

Talai Council of Elders Organizing Secretary Mzee Christopher Arap Agui says the coronation of Gideon Moi, which was conducted on Friday morning at the Senator’s Kabarak home led by former Councilor Christopher Arap Koiyoki and George Samoei, was done by ‘brokers and cartels.’

According to the Organizing Secretary, had the event been genuine Moi would have availed himself in Kapsisiywa for the coronation instead of inviting the elders to his home.

He maintains that the position of Kalenjin elder is currently held by Deputy President William Ruto.

Senator Gideon Moi was on Friday morning crowned a Kalenjin elder by a section of Talai Elders.

The crack-of-dawn ceremony which took around three hours at Moi’s Kabarak home saw the senator receive the communities’ instruments of power and the mandate to seek the country’s top job.

The instruments include: Sambut(a shield with a leopard skin), Rungut (a club), Nogirwet (a leadership staff), Sharit (an ordinary stick), Ngecheret (a three-legged stool), Kipkaliangit (a flywhisk) and Kutwet (a monkey-skin hat).

A similar ceremony had been halted on Saturday, January 2 after youths blocked Senator Moi from meeting with the Talai elders.

They barricaded the entry to the residence of Councilor Christopher Arap Koyoki.