The red scabbards are of great significance to the Maasai. The coming of the Maasai into East Africa during the Nilotic Diaspora is recorded and dated in Kikuyu oral tradition around 1750 to 1775.
This first contact and age was deemed by Routledge as the "Red Ochre Fad." Before this period there is no mention of red ochre in Kikuyu oral history, therefore the Maasai probably brought red ochre with them to the area.
This historical evidence shows that the Maasai used red as one of their tribal signifiers as far back as the 1700's. Many consider sheath color as a primary means of dating East African swords (Brown sheaths are older red newer) but the evidence suggests otherwise.
Furthermore, I have in my possession a color page printed by the Bibliogr. Institut in Lepzig in 1880. Using my antique manuscript page I noticed that two swords most would identify as Maasai were depicted side by side. They were dyed in different colors, one in red identified as Maasai and the other in brown identified as Watuta. This revelation blew the color age theory out of the water as both red and brown scabbards were historically illustrated simultaneously as of 1880.
But Maasai tribal group iconography further confuses this matter. The intensity of ochre and its symbolism is of great importance to the Maasai. Some sections prefer a reddish brown while others prefer a sanguine blood red. For example the Kisongo Maasai dislike bright reds because of its similarity to blood. This variation is easy to see in the older long sword type sheaths.
Where I am stumped is why so many newer swords exhibit an almost universal (not completely) blood red dye. I have my theories but they cannot be backed up by evidence as of yet.
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