By Joseph Onyango Amara and Odhiambo Orlale
Everyone in Gem Abir in Yala, Wagai Ward in Gem Constituency who met Joseph Ogutu Abiero fell in love with his demeanor. He was a tall, 6 foot, stout man with a mean face, but with a warm handshake and smile whenever one got to know him better. According to his daughter, Leah Ogombe, her father was born in 1895, shortly before the builders of the East African Railway line, also dubbed Lunatic Express, from the Indian Ocean port town of Mombasa, reached the end of it at Port Florence, as Kisumu was then called.
Little is known about his adolescence and teenage years even after intensive research by his children and grand children. What can be confirmed was that nonage (had his front teeth removed according to Luo tradition) before he entered teenage hood and allowed to heard cattle far away from his father’s boma (homestead) and later build a samba (man’s hut) for himself in his father’s dala (home) to use with his younger brothers.
His father was called Abiero and hailed from Wagai a stone throw from Abir where he eventually settled. Mzee Abiero was a polygamist and had three wives; this was the norm rather than the exception in those traditional days in most parts of the country, Luoland in particular.
Education: The young man never stepped into any classroom, which was not odd in those days even in Gem Constituency where one of the Senior Chiefs, Okoth Owira, ensured that every child attended school or would face his wrath of publicly being canned! Those who ‘survived’ the canning went to the best high schools and universities in the country and by extension to the world.
One of them was Dr David Wasao, who was a top student in his village primary school, secondary and university in neighbouring Makerere in Uganda and later proceeded to the United Kingdom to study medicine at the prestigious Oxford University where he excelled and became the first Kenyan to graduate with a Masters and later a PHD degree in the 1950s. In later years, Gem became the home of academic giants by producing the highest number of brightest children in Nyanza and the country as a whole with the number of university graduates and PHD holders leading internationally.
Thanks to his outgoing personality, Abiero was spotted by the colonial administrators and police officers who visited his village with the aim of looking for recruits to join the Colonial Police Force. When approached, his father did not think twice and gave them a nod to: take the young man away.” That was the beginning of his transformation from a teenager to a man and to become a soldier.
For the next three decades he survived and served his “masters” with hard work, loyalty and dedication throughout the country. August 14, 1914, when the First World War broke out in Europe putting the British against the Germans, was the best day in his entire life. That sunny day in the dusty town of Narok, in South Rift region his loving wife delivered a bouncing baby girl into this world at Narok police station police lines. He loved his mikayi (first born) so much that he named her Dina Maritha Oriso, after his grandfather, Oriso Abiero. Thereafter, his first wife was blessed with two other children, Harold Owuor and Leah Ogombe. Abiero was then identified by the head hunters in the Kings African Rifles (KAR), as they criss-crossed the Kenyan protectorate looking for young, energetic and hard working men to be conscripted in the army to fight in the 1914-1918 WWI.
Most were confined to the front lines against the Germans, who had a colony in neighbouring Tanzania, and the Italians who had a colony in Abyssinia (old name of Ethiopia) and Somalia. It was during his stint in the armed forces that he traveled by train for the first time from Yala to Kisumu and then to Nairobi before changing trains to continue to the port town of Mombasa, on the shores of the biggest water mass he had ever seen, Indian Ocean. While his platoon was in Mombasa, some of them were driven to the Kenya-Tanzania border where they faced off with their brothers led by their German bosses. He survived and was back in Mombasa where they were sent by ship to fight the Italians in Abyssinia. It was while on the war front that he made many friends and learned some Kiswahili and splattering English in order to survive.
Sajni was also renowned in the village as Oruye Jabunde (Man of the gun). After the WWI, he served until 1921 when he resigned to join the colonial police force where his talents were identified and in 1926 he was promoted to be the fourth local to be a Sergeant where he served with distinction until 1945 when he resigned. He did not live for long after that, barely a year later in February 1945 he succumbed to an illness and died. He was given a heroes burial by members of his church at his Gem Abir home by the Anglican Church. Scant information is there about his mother and other siblings with exception of one sister, Sulmena Oriso, Brigita Omino and Gaudencia Awuor who was later married to Mzee Ahenda in Kasipul Kabondo in present day Homa Bay County in Nyanza. She is the mother to Paddy Ahenda, who is Kenya’s Ambassador to Qatar, and a former Kasipul Kabondo MP, among others.
Family Life Sajni had four wives, they were: Salome Adero who was the mother of Dinah Oriso, Harold Owuor and Leah Ogombe. The second wife was Gudah, who was blessed with a son, Ishmael Ochanji. The other wives were: Oyamo and Peninah, who was and Ogao, jaode matin (younger wife) who was blessed with one son, Peter Oriso Wage. Mama Peninah was the same age as her step daughter Dinah, who was the mother of Inspector Odera and Cpl. Odundo.
Disciplined Forces: Some of Sajni’s sons, great grandsons and a granddaughter followed in his nyayo (footprints) and served in the disciplined forces locally and internationally. They are Harold Owuor who was a Warrant Officer in KAR from 1936 to 1945; Police Inspector Dishon Odera was an Inspector of Police and Cpl. Robert Odundo.
Sajni’s other son, Ishmael Ochanji worked as a clerk with Nairobi County Council throughout his life before he retired and returned to his roots in Gem, Siaya County. Others are in the United States military: Dr John Ahenda son of Hon. Paddy and Millicent Ahenda; Allan Opiyo and Alex Odongo Orlale sons of Martin Juma and Maureen Orlale. The only lady is the late Ann Achieng, daughter of Margaret Wasonga and Wilson Nyawaka, who served as Kanu Youth Winger in Nairobi. She was married a police Sgt, George Aranda Ojala.
Sajni hailed from Wagai Gem where his father Abiero was buried. He joined the Anglican faithful while he was in the army. Those days it was known as CMS (Church Missionary Society) Dholuo, Chemes where he was baptized together with the late Mzee Ezekiel Apindi of Mur Ngiya. Sajni was a staunch Anglican. Fact File:
Sajni was born in 1895 and was son to Oriso whose father was Abiero. Sajni had many sisters, but most known is Gaudencia Awuor Oriso Ahenda.
He was a polygamist with x4 wives, namely: Salome, Ogao, Guda and Peninah. And was blessed with seven children: Dinah Maritha Oriso Olale, Leah Ogombe Amara, Harold Owuor, Robert Odundo, Dishon Odera, Ishmael Ochanji Ogutu and Peter Oriso Wage.
So far, there are five grandsons named after Sajni. The late Joseph Jotham Ogutu Orlale, Joseph Ogutu Onyango Amara, the late Joseph Ogutu Odera, Joseph Ogutu Odundo and Spt. Joseph Osanya Ochanji.
Two great grand children have also been named after him; the late Joseph Gideon Kimko Ogutu Orlale, Joseph (Jossy) Musa Olale. And great-great a grandson Joseph Jotham Nyagaya
Political Arena:
Two of his grandsons went into politics and the diplomatic service. They are his eldest grandson Enos Okon’go Seth Orlale and Paddy Ahenda.
Cllr Enos Orlale was elected on a Ford Kenya ticket to represent Lambwe West Ward in Mbita Constituency in the 1992 General Elections. He was later elected by all councilors in Homa Bay County Council (since renamed Homa Bay County) as the Council chairman. In Nairobi, he was elected by all mayors and councilors to be the Deputy Chairman of Association of Local Governments in Kenya (ALGAK).
On his part, Hon. Paddy Ahenda was elected Kasipul Kabondo MP in 1998 and served for one term. In 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed him as Kenya’s Ambassador to Qatar following his historic handshake with ODM Leader and Former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga.
Comments