The Seven Bearded Sisters was a term given to seven Kenyan opposition members of parliament (MPs) after

Daniel arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) 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 thi ...

assumed power in 1978 following the death of

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He played a significant role in the ...

. The seven were Abuya Abuya (Kitutu East), Onyango Midika ( Nyando now

Muhoroni Muhoroni is a town in Kisumu County, Kenya. Muhoroni hosts a town council. It had an urban population of 13,664 and a total population of 31,148 (1999 censu. Muhoroni has a railway station along the Kenya Railways Corporation, Nairobi-Kisumu Rai ...

), Mashengu wa Mwachofi (

Wundanyi Wundanyi is a town in the Taita-Taveta County of Kenya. Other urban centres in the county include Voi, Taveta, Kenya, Taveta and Mwatate. Location Wundanyi is located approximately north of Mwatate, the county headquarters. It is about west of ...

), James Orengo, Lawrence Sifuna (Bumula), Chibule wa Tsuma ( Kaloleni) and

Koigi wa Wamwere Koigi wa Wamwere (born 18 December 1949 in Rugongo, Nakuru District) 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 hi ...

(Nakuru North, now Subukia). Others closely associated with the seven were George Anyona, Chelagat Mutai and Wasike Ndobi.

Origin of the name

The name was coined by the then Kenyan

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Charles Njonjo Charles Mūgane Njonjo (23 January 1920 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan lawyer who served as Attorney General of Kenya from 1963 to 1979, Minister of Constitutional Affairs and the member of Parliament for Kikuyu Constituency from 1980 to 198 ...

in 1981. He picked it from the 1975 book ''The Seven Sisters: The Great Oil Companies and the World they Shaped'' by

Anthony Sampson Anthony Terrell Seward Sampson (3 August 1926 – 18 December 2004) was a British writer and journalist. His most notable and successful book was '' Anatomy of Britain'', which was published in 1962 and was followed by five more "Anatomies", up ...

. 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 Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

, as he saw these MPs to uphold

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

ideologies.

Grievances

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 Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

in the 1980s to escape the oppressive KANU regime. 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 Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Legacy

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.

Origin of the name

Grievances

Legacy

References

Further reading