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The Seven Bearded Sisters was a term given to seven Kenyan opposition members of parliament (MPs) after Daniel arap Moi assumed power in 1978 following the death of Jomo Kenyatta. The seven were Abuya Abuya (Kitutu East), Onyango Midika (Nyando now Muhoroni), Mwashengu wa Mwachofi (Wundanyi), James Orengo, Lawrence Sifuna (Bumula), Chibule wa Tsuma (Kaloleni) and Koigi wa Wamwere (Nakuru North, now Subukia). Others closely associated with the seven were George Anyona, Chelagat Mutai and Wasike Ndobi.
The name was coined by the then Kenyan attorney general Charles Njonjo in 1981. He picked it from the 1975 book The Seven Sisters: The Great Oil Companies and the World they Shaped by Anthony Sampson. [1] The book was about how seven of the biggest oil companies in the world conspired to overthrow governments. Njonjo used the word 'bearded' to draw a comparison with Karl Marx, as he saw these MPs to uphold Marxist ideologies. [2]
The MPs were left wing backbenchers who had been vocal in opposing most of the government's policies, especially what they saw as the government's close association with Western powers. The group was unofficial and most of them only knew each other through the motions they proposed and debated in parliament. They garnered most of their support in the student bodies of public universities, especially the powerful SONU (Student Organization of Nairobi University).
Most of the seven served time in detention and/ or went to exile. Orengo went to exile in Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in the 1980s to escape the oppressive KANU regime. [3]
Wamwere was sent to jail in 1982 for accusing the Moi government of ethnic discrimination and corruption. After his release in 1984, he went to exile in Uganda then later to Norway. [4]
The MPs were the first in post-independent Kenya to openly and vocally defy the government in parliament. They laid the foundation for the fight for multi party democracy that would lead to the repeal of section 2A of the Kenyan constitution in 1992.
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the third vice president of Kenya from 1967 to 1978 under President Jomo Kenyatta, becoming the president following the latter's death.
Nakuru is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitants, making it the largest urban centre in the Rift Valley, with Eldoret in Uasin Gishu County following closely behind. The city lies along the Nairobi Nakuru Highway, a distance of 160 kilometers from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. It is the third largest city and fourth largest urban centre by metropolitan area in Kenya, behind Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu respectively. It lies about 1,850 m above sea level.
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James Aggrey Bob Orengo is a Kenyan lawyer, a well known human rights activist and politician who is the current governor for Siaya County. He is also one of the few Kenyan lawyers who have attained the professional grade of Senior counsel in the legal field, a title that he earned under former president Mwai Kibaki.
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Koigi wa Wamwere is a Kenyan politician, human rights activist, journalist and writer. Koigi became famous for opposing both the Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi regimes, both of whom sent him to detention.
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Charles Mugane Njonjo was a Kenyan lawyer who served as Attorney General of Kenya from 1963 to 1979, and Minister of Constitutional Affairs and the member of Parliament for Kikuyu Constituency from 1980 to 1983.
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G. G. Njuguna Ngengi was a Kenyan politician native to Molo, Kenya.
Nyeri High School, also known as Nyeri High, is a boys boarding school situated in Nyeri, Kenya near Mathari Consolata Mission Hospital, which provides secondary education as stipulated by the 8-4-4 Curriculum. Despite being acknowledged as an academic giant in the region, the school has also developed a notoriety for student unrest culminating in the death of four school prefects in a fire caused by student arson and followed a few years later by a student strike that led to an official government inquiry into the running of the school.
Jean-Marie Seroney was a Kenyan human rights advocate, a legislator, and an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. He was detained as a prisoner of conscience for 1,155 days.
The Chama Cha Uzalendo is a Kenyan political party established in 2004. The party is currently headed by Maur Bwanamaka. Former party chairmen include Wavinya Ndeti and Koigi Wamwere.
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Lawrence Sifuna Sifuna is a Kenyan politician who was Member of Parliament for Bumula, the first MP of that constituency. He was first elected to the Kenyan Parliament on November 8, 1979 in the then larger Bungoma South constituency. Sifuna was re-elected in 1983 too. He lost to a former North Eastern Provincial Commissioner Maurice Makhanu in the 1988 General Election after Bungoma South constituency was renamed Kanduyi. Sifuna recaptured the seat during the first multi-party General Election of 1992 on a Ford Asili ticket.
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Philomena Chelagat Mutai(January 29, 1949- July 6, 2013) was a prominent female Kenyan politician and human rights defender known for her bold utterances in and outside the Parliament of Kenya. Popularly known as 'Chelagat Mutai', she started out as a vocal student activist and journalist, later joining elective politics early in her life and becoming a fierce critic of the Kenya government. She became an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience when the administration of President Jomo Kenyatta clamped down on dissent and threw her in jail. She was eventually exiled from Kenya joining a cast of foreign-based Kenyan dissidents fleeing the repressive regimes of Kenyatta and Daniel Moi. In October 1974, at the age of 25, she became the youngest person elected to the Kenyan Parliament, defeating a cast of 11 male contestants in a tight race for the Eldoret North seat. She quickly joined Kenya's leftist politics, becoming a fierce critic of the Kenyatta government, and was imprisoned as a result. Soon after her incarceration, she returned to politics winning back the seat she had lost. She would not last long and would be exiled from Kenya, fleeing what she believed to be another round of politically motivated incarceration. She spent several years in exile in Tanzania. She championed the inclusion of women in Kenyan politics and society, and as a lifelong activist for good governance.
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