On January 20, 2024, Baringo Senator William Cheptumo had joined hundreds of mourners at Tuluk Primary School during the burial of three family members who had been shot dead in an ambush by armed criminals.
The trio, a man, his wife and their two-year-old son were shot dead on January 9, 2024 while heading for a relative’s initiation ceremony at Tuluk village.
On reaching the deserted Sangorok area, along the Yatya- Chemoe road, Victor Yego,30, his wife Valentine Yego and their two children aged five and two years were ambushed by bandits who shot at them while aboard two motorcycles.
During the attack, the three family members succumbed to gunshot injuries while their five year old daughter and two motorcyclists survived.
At the time, rampant bandit attacks had been reported in Bartabwa and Saimo-Soi wards in Baringo North Sub-county leading to the killing of more than 15 people and injuring of tens of others.
During the burial of the three victims, tensions ran high as locals raised concerns as to why the government had left them at the mercy of the gun-toting criminals.
When the Senator took to the podium to address the distraught locals, he started singing his signature song dubbed serenyawow— a peace song in the Pokot dialect, which gives God thanks for bringing souls together no matter the circumstances.
The locals, who had lost hope following the killings that had also displaced them from their homes, joined the senator in the song, and tension was defused before he addressed them.
As the county and the country mourns the fallen lawmaker, Cheptumo is being remembered by Baringo residents as the soloist senator, and a peacemaker par excellence.
Whenever there was heightened tension due to insecurity in the banditry-prone areas of Baringo or during political rallies, the senator would break into a song and lead the crowds in singing—a tactic that worked well to defuse tensions and calm down emotions.
The perennial insecurity menace in badly hit remote villages in Baringo County, including Bartabwa where Cheptumo came from has seen many deaths over the years, and a trail of destruction, including displacements.
Over the years, local leaders and the government have organized many peace meetings and caravans in efforts to bring sanity to the insecurity-prone villages.
Such meetings are attended by warring communities, and often, tensions are palpable. Reading the mood in such tense meetings, Senator Cheptumo had mastered the art of calming down emotions through songs and they would lighten up and listen to their leaders.
He was a soloist par excellence, and it is one thing residents of deep Baringo villages will remember their Senator for, following his demise at the Nairobi Hospital on Saturday night.
Many are now sharing video clips on social media that captured the Senator leading locals in songs at various events.
His electorate says as a politician, their late Senator was calm and slow to anger and would easily turn around a situation, even in situations where people would have expected him to get angry.
Late Baringo Senator William Cheptumo.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
“He was a very humble and soft-spoken man and that is why Baringo North people voted for him as their MP for three consecutive terms before he was elected Senator in 2022,” said Erick Bett, a Baringo North resident.
Before he addressed the crowds, and read the mood, he would lead peace and even worship songs that softened the hearts of the people.
He had also mastered traditional peace and solemn songs, as well as inspirational songs that he would sing to console bereaved families.
Mr Bett observed that his Senator had honed a singing skill through evangelism. Coming from a village bordering Baringo North and Tiaty, he had the advantage of knowing songs from both the neighboring Pokot and Tugen communities, which played an advantage for him when addressing both sides.
“As a youth, the senator was an evangelist and coming from a village bordering Tugen and Pokot communities, he knew songs from both areas, which played an advantage to him when he ventured into politics because he would easily connect with both sides,” said Mr Bett.
A resident of Mogotio sub-county Amkich Karanja described him as a gentleman who carried himself respectfully, and that singing was his signature.
“The Senator had a unique way of getting into the hearts of the people. Being a staunch Christian, he had memorised almost all Kalenjin Christian hymn songs and would lead them any time before he spoke. He was very good at it,” he said.
“I encountered him in many forums and what was striking about him was his singing prowess,” he recalled.
A resident Milkah Keitany described the Senator as a charmer, who used songs to get to the hearts of the people.
“This man was quite something. We used to call him the soloist senator, a charmer in every way. He was a peacemaker and his singing played a major role in uniting warring communities in the insecurity-prone villages,” Ms Keitany told Nation.Africa, mourning her late Senator.
“Every time I met him, I would tease him calling him ‘the soloist’ and he would burst into laughter telling me he would never stop singing. I am sad that my senator didn’t keep his promise to me and passed on,” she said.
“There is a particular peace song in the Pokot dialect that he loved singing during peace forums and I can confirm it was so soothing and quelled tensions whenever we had inter-communal conflicts. He made his way to the hearts of the people through his singing,” she said.
A former MCA Vincent Kiror said through his singing, the senator managed to raise millions in several fundraisers towards the construction of churches in the region.
“His singing worked very well in his fund drives that saw the construction of many churches,” he observed.
Another Baringo North resident Cheleiwo Morwess described the late Senator as a leader who managed to maneuver difficult situations with tact.
“He was not your usual soloist. His singing was so unique as it suited the occasions and people would listen to him. He led us in choruses praising the Lord, and no matter how hard the situation was, the people would calm down,” he said.
“He was not the type of politician who would raise his tempers or get annoyed during confrontations. Even in such situations, he would lead a song that charmed locals and lowered their tempers,” the resident recalled.
