Friday, November 1, 2024

Of Circumcision and Politics: A Comparative Analysis of the Luo and Kikuyu with Bakgatla Ba Kgafela

Let me first start by stating that I have been circumcised. I am not an Inkwenkwe, an uncircumcised small boy who has not been to an initiation school.

As a Mokgatla wa Kgafela I have been to an initiation school. That school is a rite of passage to manhood. In Xhosa and Kikuyu culture for example, you can never enter the circles of Xhosa and or Kikuyu Men when you are an un-circumcised small boy who has not been to an initiation school. Although not quite openly pronounced in Bakgatla Ba Kgafela custom and culture one is never considered a complete man if he has not been to an initiation school ÔÇô Monna wa Mokgatla le Mosadi wa Mokgatla ba tshwanetse go re ba bolle, ba e mophatong.

This is the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela pride and you cannot take it away from them. Such has been the practice for many years which does not need some Presidential intervention to revive and restore.

Hell No!!!! Amongst the many who have proudly taken part  in the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela initiation school include prominent and aspiring politicians, former Parliamentary Speaker, high ranking socialites, executives, CEOs, Economists, Actuarial Scientists, Accountants, Engineers, Medical Doctors and Architects as well as University Professors and High Court Judge. Not only that, even daughters and sons of royalty from different tribes have taken part in the exercise noticeably such as Tshekedi Khama’s grandson, Kgosi Masunga’s wife and many others. My two sons too will go to an initiation school. Their Mother although being a Mongwato from Mahalapye has proudly been to Bakgatla Ba Kgafela initiation school.

In Kenya, politicians mostly from the Kikuyu ethnic tribe have made the Kenyans to believe that uncircumcised men are children with immature brains that cannot make serious decisions, and therefore should not be leaders. However, some view this as just another myth which politicians exploit to stay relevant as well as to peddle hate among communities. Interestingly in Kenya, statistics reveal that the highest number of professors, doctors and engineers come from those communities that do not practice circumcision. Some parents have had their sons circumcised so that they will look like all the other males in their culture.

In some cultures, though, males are not commonly circumcised. If you got a chance to study abroad, you, (men) should have mingled enough with white people, especially ladies so as to gain serious relationships or just for leisure, pleasure and experience. Probably you are aware that white females despise circumcised African men ÔÇô claiming that circumcision makes them insensitive during sex. I am talking from experience dear reader. Of course, this myth is based on some unfounded research that claims that circumcision makes men less interested in sex and reduces their pleasure during sex.

Despite many advices given to poor Kenyan’s not to let tribal politics divide them, some have taken these words for granted. Tribal hatred is mostly among poor Kenyans especially the Luo and Kikuyu and this is as a result of political bickering and the lust for power by their tribal kings, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga.  

In 2008 the government started the male circumcision campaign in Luo Nyanza to curb HIV infection. The Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision campaign was launched following concerns about the high HIV prevalence rate in the region.  Luo Nyanza makes up less than 10 per cent of Kenya’s population but accounts for nearly half the country’s HIV burden, according to the National Aids Control Council.  In 2006, a World Health Organization-backed study showed that circumcision, which the Luo do not practise, reduces HIV transmission in heterosexual couples by up to 60 per cent.  The Ministry of Health used this information to start the campaign amid mass resistance. Its target was to circumcise 860,000 men by July 2013.  Statistics from the Aids Control Council show that between 2008 and 2013, more than 950,000 men were circumcised.

Raila Odinga who is a Luo and idolized as the community’s kingpin, encouraged his tribesmen to circumcise. As a result of his encouragement thousands of Luo men rushed to get circumcised. Raila came into conflict with tribal elders over his insistence that Luo men be circumcised. Luo elders view circumcision as an erosion of long-held cultural values. Traditionally, Luo initiation rites do not include the circumcision of males or females. Instead, the tribe has alternative rituals that have been handed down for hundreds of years. These include the removal of six lower teeth. Raila’s actions were viewed with great suspicion that he was trying to change Luo culture in order to increase his community’s appeal in the presidential election. Luo intellectuals were perplexed at his seeming attempts to repackage the community as a circumcised people.

While campaigning for the presidency in 2007, Raila was attacked by President Mwai Kibaki’s campaign strategists as unworthy of leadership because, being a Luo, he was thought to be uncircumcised. During political and ethnic clashes following the disputed 2007 elections, Luo men were forcibly circumcised by Kikuyu youths. Many bled to death on the streets of Nairobi’s squalid slum. President Kibaki comes from the Kikuyu tribe where circumcision is a very important rite of passage. Without it, a man is relegated to low societal status.

Kibaki’s assault against Raila’s perceived circumcision status drew Luo outrage against the Kikuyu and helped mobilize the community’s votes behind their man. Luo elders feel that Raila wanted to make the Luo acceptable to the Kikuyu, something that is viewed with intense outrage. The fact that the circumcision drive is spear-headed by the government makes it worse because former President Kibaki is a Kikuyu. Luo intellectuals viewed the circumcision drive as cultural imperialism imposed to undermine Luo values.

In the run-up to the election, Mr Odinga was derided that he could not lead Kenya supposedly because being Luo, he was not circumcised and in a strange twist of events, he too got circumcised. Not only did he circumcise but also did the un-imaginable by marrying his eldest son, Fidel Odinga, to a Kikuyu lady but they later divorced, something that can be viewed as worse than mixing water and oil. However, his youngest son, Jnr, is still married to a Kikuyu lady named, Yvonne Wambui. The political grapevine has always been rife with assertions that Raila’s call for Luo to embrace circumcision was for the benefit of his in-laws.

The circumcision drive has been marketed as a HIV/Aids prevention strategy in a region  with among the highest rates of HIV/Aids infection in Kenya as it is also the case in Botswana. According to medical researchers, circumcised men have a significantly lower risk of getting HIV/Aids compared to the uncircumcised. It is believed that removal of the foreskin toughens the covering of male genital organs and thus reduces the chances of getting HIV.

Many of the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela former political and new aspiring candidates have been to their initiation school both male and female. Many pride themselves with that and many use that as their trump card to gain political mileage during election period. Time again will even try and associate and identify with royalty to score political points when it suits them. The current crop of political wannabes and aspirants are worse in that some of them are associated with having previous criminal records and having been engaged in ponzi washa washa pyramid schemes and thuggery. Thugs with a ME NICE attitude who will use the King’s name to collect money and groceries from un-suspecting members of the tribe claiming they are collecting them on behalf of the King. Claiming some high level of authority undermining royal uncles thinking they are the IT, with some self believe that they are the eyes and ears of the King in his absence, but hence are just mere ragamuffins with evil intensions. Some of them behaving like over draft millionaires and think they can run away with murder. With some failed female political mafia, sell outs who had evil intensions with false pretenses and other over rated loud mouthed socialites ÔÇô Bo Benny comes to town. Some political clowns and comedians who hop from one party to the other behaving like un-circumcised  (Inkwenkwe) political leaders. Such abuse to the electorates must be addressed as a matter of urgency and the different political parties must not allow such thugs to stand for political office.  

*Thabo Lucas Seleke is a Scholar and Researcher, Health Policy and Health Systems Strengthening

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