Lenana ole Mbatian

Biography

Lenana ole Mbatian was the son of the great Laibon Mbatian and became the paramount Laibon of the Maasai during the early colonial period. His rise to power was controversial: according to Maasai tradition, his father Mbatian intended to pass the Laibon staff and sacred isurutia (iron club) to his brother Senteu, but Lenana obtained them through deception, triggering a civil war between the brothers that divided the Maasai into rival factions. This internal conflict severely weakened the Maasai just as the British were consolidating colonial control. Lenana chose to collaborate with the British, signing the first Maasai Agreement in 1904 and the second in 1911, which moved the Maasai from their fertile lands in the central Rift Valley to the less productive southern reserves in present-day Kajiado and Narok. These agreements are considered among the most unjust land treaties in Kenyan colonial history. Lenana died in 1911, shortly after signing the second agreement. On his deathbed, he reportedly regretted the land concessions and urged his people to fight for the return of their ancestral lands. Mount Lenana, one of the three peaks of Mount Kenya, was named in his honor by the British.