The Tachoni Heritage & Development Trust keeps the register, the archive and the record of the Tachoni people. It exists because we have never had one.

Why a Trust and not a council

The Tachoni already have councils, and they have not always agreed with one another. The Trust is not another one, and it does not compete with them. It is a shared instrument: a record that every Tachoni body can use, and that outlasts any of them.

What we hold is documentary, not ceremonial. Nobody is crowned here. The authority the Trust has is the authority of a record that is accurate, sourced and open to correction — and that authority has to be earned again every year.

What we do

• Record. Clans, lineages, age-sets, and the accounts that differ from one another.
• Preserve. Elders on video and audio, transcribed, with an accession number so it can be cited in a century.
• Count. A community register, built towards the 2029 census.
• Convene. Bring the clans together to write down what our community actually needs, and hold anyone who promises it to their word.

What we will not do

The Trust is non-partisan. It does not support or oppose any candidate or political party, it does not campaign, and it does not endorse. This is not a matter of preference — a registered public benefit organisation is barred from doing so, and the Trust intends to remain one.

The Charter is put to every candidate on the same terms, and every response is published as received. What the community’s elders and clans then choose to do is entirely a matter for them.

We also do not sell, share or trade the register. Not to a party, not to a campaign, not to anyone.

Who runs it

The Trust is convened by Edward Masai Simiyu and governed by a Council of Patrons drawn from Tachoni elders across Bungoma, Kakamega and Trans Nzoia — including elders from more than one existing Tachoni body, deliberately.

How it is funded

Founding costs are met privately, and founding funders are named on this page. The Trust does not accept anonymous contributions.

Registration as a Public Benefit Organisation is in progress. Registration as a data controller with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner is in progress. Both numbers will be published here when issued.