WHY THE ABAKHOONE IN BUNGOMA CLAIM THEY CAME FROM SAMIA

In the precolonial days, the current Budalangi constituency used to be divided into four main principalities. In the far South west towards Siaya, there was Ebulwani where the Abalwani clan lived. To the East towards Siaya, in the area of the present day Ruambwa and Nyadorera in Alego-Usonga, there was the Buongo chieftaincy. In Buongo there lived almost all the small clans that constitute today's subtribe of the Banyala. This included the Abaongo, Ababoro, Abamuripo, Abanyifwa, Abasinyama, Abamakhya, Abakhauka, Abamulembo, and Abanyekera amongst others.

In the middle between the mouth of River Yala (which in the olden days the Abakhoone called Obaro or Lukose) across the Ndekwe estuary to the south-eastern shores of River Nzoia, there was Bunambo. In Bunambo there lived solely the Abakhoone. The headquarters of Bunambo was Erukala located between the modern Runyu sub location and River Ndekwe. The locality on the northern banks of the River Nzoia extending from Port Victoria to Funyula was known as Esamia.

See the satellite map here: http://www.maphill.com/kenya/western/busia/budalangi/detailed-maps/google-hybrid-map/.
Around the year 1660, the Buongo clans ganged up with some newly arrived Luo clans that had settled in Yimbo and attacked Bunambo. This attack was completely unexpected since no war had been announced by the attackers. The Abakhoone quickly mobilised to defend the Bunambo Kingdom. They fought back the attackers ferociously. The attackers did, however, manage to capture one village in the north of Bunambo called Bumaba. This is the present locality of the Abamaba clan of Bunyala. In the end, the Abakhoone managed to fend off the attackers and win the war.

Once again, circa 1710, the Buongo and the Ebulwani ganged up and tried to attack the Abakhoone in Bunambo. The brave and daring warriors of the Abakhoone defeated them within a few days, inflicting on them heavy loses.

Following the victories in these wars, between 1710 and 1750, Bunambo experienced a period of relative peace. However, this period of peace left the Abakhoone elders worried and wondering whether the current generation of warriors would be able to effectively wage war. To assuage these doubts, in 1750 the Abakhoone elders ordered the mobilisation of the battalions which crossed River Nzoia into Esamia and waged war against the Samia people. Being an effective and disciplined army, they overran the Samia warriors and captured the land north and West of River Nzoia where the current Port Victoria town is all the way to Ganga town near Sigalame High School. This annexation of the Samia territories resulted in the creation of a principality of Esamia which was added to the Kingdom of Bunambo. The Abakhoone expelled all the Abasmia and settled in the villages of Bukani, Budiera, Marenga, Bukoma, Singwe, and Budubuusi all the way to Sisenye near Ganga. Since most of the ancestors of the Abakhoone in Bungoma today, originated from the newly acquired Esamia principality of the Bunambo kingdom, most of them still talk of having come from Esamia. In essence, they were all citizens of the Bunambo kingdom as they were all Abanambo who had settled in Esamia.

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