Pokot people

The Pokot people (also spelled Pökoot) live in West Pokot County and Baringo County in Kenya and in the Pokot District of the eastern Karamoja region in Uganda. They form a section of the Kalenjin ethnic group and speak the Pökoot language, which is broadly similar to the related Marakwet, Nandi, Tuken and other members of the Kalenjin language group.

Origins
Pokot identity formed in the Kerio Valley perhaps as early as the late 18th and certainly not later than the mid 19th century. It emerged from the assimilation of the Sirkwa era Chok by the Pokotozek section of the Maliri.

Assimilation
Early 20th century accounts of the Pokot identify two distinct branches of the community with the caveat that much as two ways of life are detailed, they were one people.

Beech (1911) identified significant differences between agricultural and pastoral sections of the Pokot in; oaths, punishment for murder and homicide, punishment for assault, punishment for witchcraft, punishment for theft and robbery, marriage & divorce, recourse in case of unpaid debt and land tenure. He however notes that "it must be therefore borne in mind that, although written of here as two distinct sections, the hill and pastoral Suk are essentially the same".

Social organisation
Even in the early stages of assimilation, there were no notable differences in matters of social organisation, initiation or governance between the two Pokot groupings. Socially, Pokot men were divided into three groupings; Karachona or boys, Muren or circumcised men and Poi or old men. Boys once circumcised would join an age-set.

Inter-tribal relations
The Turkana, samburu and Pokot ethnic groups have organized cattle raids against each other. The two groups have been through numerous periods of war and peace.

Demographics
The number of Pokot speakers in Kenya has been estimated at 783,000 (last Kenyan census carried out in 2009) while the number of Pokot speakers in Uganda is estimated at 130,000.

Folklore
Verbal art is very important among the Pokot. Proverbs are used with versatility both to teach and to make a point. At a gathering of elders, a person may use proverbs to show what a good speaker he is. They are also used to teach younger people the consequences of straying from the moral path. A popular tale, that of the Louwialan clan, is told to warn against pride. Another common tale is that of the blind girl who returns from death . Riddles(Tyangoi) are mostly used as a way of sharpening children's wits and capturing their attention during story-telling time.

The Pokot have various, descriptive terms for different classes of speech that man engages in. These are as follows;

Lökoi: News of other places

Chiran: News of going on's in the neighborhood

Kokwö: Serious conversations of a business-like nature

Kiruok: Conversations of legal nature (from this stems, kiruokot, a legal specialist)

Ng'öliontoköny: Talk of olden times

Even with the introduction of Western education, the Pokot still use folklore as a means of teaching.

Customs
In November 2014 there was public outrage abroad when pictures of circumcision of young Pokot girls were published in the West, despite Kenya's legal ban on the practice.

Notable personalities
Key personalities of recent times from the community include:


 * Kamama Asman Abongutum, politician
 * Simon Kachapin, 1st Governor, West Pokot County
 * Tegla Loroupe, runner, 2-time NYC Marathon winner
 * John Krop Lonyangapuo, 2nd Governor West Pokot County
 * Samuel Poghisio, Senator West Pokot County
 * Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (born 1988), Kenyan-born Israeli Olympic marathon runner