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Exploits of Kisii terror gang

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Published on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 19:00

The mention of his name arouses memories of a fighter who bestrode Nyanza like a colossus with mystical power. Zachary Ombaki Nyongoina, popularly known as ‘Major,’ puzzled many with his ability to elude police. He could meet police trailing him, volunteer to show them ‘Nyongoina’s home and then direct them to the wrong homestead. He would then vanish.

Patrick Ombaki, the son of Zachary Nyongoina. A portrait of his father.

At the height of the ethnic clashes in the early 1990s between the Maasai and the Kisii, Nyongoina was famous and mysterious. Born in 1951, he sat CPE in the 1960s at Mokomoni Primary School. He was from Magenche Location along the Gucha- Transmara border.

"Everything about his birth was mysterious. I had lost three sons and two wives before he was born. Just like me, he had never been hospitalised for any illness," says his father, Nyongoina Moinogu.

He at one time lived with his younger sister who was married in Transmara and worked as a herds boy for four years. He mastered the Maasai language, culture and art of war having joined the morans during raids against the Kisii.

Tired of raiding his own people, he returned and formed Chinkororo. From the initial 200 men, the force grew with time and he beat the morans at their own game.

His father, Moinogu, recalls his exploits in war. He raided Maasailand in broad daylight and stole hundreds of cattle.

"He could approach herdsboys and engage them in a conversation as the others drove the cattle away. This way, the boys could not raise the alarm. I think he had charms," his father says. During war, he could mingle with the enemy disguised as their own and injure many. This elicited fear among morans who had terrorised his community for long.

His father was arrested seven times by police who wanted him to reveal his whereabouts."I always told them he was a grown up and responsible for himself," says his father.

One day, police got a tip that he was drinking at a bar in Geteni market. When they stormed the bar, he greeted them and offered to show them Nyongoina’s home. After a while, somebody identified him but he slipped into a maize plantation and vanished.

Mzee Nyongoina Moinogu narrates his son’s exploits during the interview with CCI

Another time, he met the police at night and directed them to another homestead. He then leisurely went to his house to inform his wife that he was leaving. Police harassed his family and residents of Nyagenke village as they searched for him.

His friends say he had immense energy and power. By 1991, his fame had spread all over Kisii and local musicians composed songs in his praise. Those who knew him say he avoided friendship but was loved and feared by many. Locals were only too willing to give him shelter whenever he requested, as he had become a hero.

In 1992, prominent Kisii politicians and leaders convinced him to quit his activities and assured him of security. At the time, he had recruited members in all villages along the border with the Maasai and the Luo communities. He agreed to disarm and assembled 700 members at the Gusii stadium for the ceremony. Each member got Sh10,000 from politicians to build houses. His father was a beneficiary and the house he built still stands today.

Nyongoina was later to meet a senior Government official in the previous regime who gave him cash and a vehicle to start a new life.

He then ventured into business, selling goats in Kisii. He died on June 20, 1998, following a short illness.

Before he died, he had bought land at Ogembo and Kenyenya. He also built permanent houses for his three wives. He had 12 children. His 21-year-old son, Patrick Ombaki, says his father was humble and hardworking.

Thousands of people turned up at his funeral. His fiercest rivals, the morans, celebrated his death by slaughtering several bulls. His wife says he was a keen livestock farmer though he briefly engaged in clothes import business from Tanzania. "On his deathbed, he regretted not having written his memoirs for his children and at the time, his right arm was paralysed," his wife told CCI.