Introducing the Bagishu Cultural Activity

Circumcision refers to the mutilation of the fore skin of the male genital. This is a prestigious traditional act among the Gishus which every male must fulfill less be denied his right of being called a “man”.
The traditional opening of the ceremony is blessed by ancestors’ spirits (Masaba, Nbolwa) before it commences.

A gourd of local brew is carried by the inspired traditional priests together with then first of candidate awaiting circumcision to the shrine for the gods to approve the opening of the ceremony by tasting the local brew.

After opening the ceremony officially, the traditional dance ‘Isonja’ is performed by the aspiring candidates across all the villages under the guidance and supervision of the clan elders. This ceremony is performed during the even years and is entrusted to specific ‘surgeons’ known as‘Bakyebi’. It is also believed that if the ‘Bakyebi’ (local surgeon) do not uphold this responsibility given to them by the gods, they run mad.

The candidates prior to circumcision declare their intentions to their parents and relatives more especially the aunties and uncles who give gifts to the candidates in form of money, goats, sheep and cows among others as rewards of their pending transition to ‘manhood’ and courage.

After all this, the cultural dance famously known as “kadodi” commences which run for from 3 days to 2 weeks. Participants include parents’ clan mates, friends and well wishers as well as relatives from the paternal and maternal sides.

On the eve of his circumcision, the candidate is supposed to feast at his maternal uncle’s home and is culturally allowed to ‘take out’ a young girl to the bush to ease his circumcision. Prior to the mutilation ceremony, the boy leaves his mother’s bedroom, cuts the rope stationed in the doorway of the main house and stands form amidst a very large crowd with his head up to express his courage and then the ‘surgeon’ takes over and performs the mutilation.

The candidate is not supposed to blink as this is a sign of cowardice. The ‘Mukyebi’ (surgeon) is inspired by the gods to fulfill the ceremony. After fulfilling the circumcision ceremony, the male being is now considered a ‘man’ and he is ritually clean and allowed to marry or participate in any decision making including politics of the clan.

The elders in the clan thereafter organize a traditional dance called ‘Inembe’ which unites boys from different villages who have been newly circumcised in the previous years. It is pride because candidates change from a transition of ‘childhood’ to ‘Manhood’. So gents and ladies, let us guard our culture with jealousy as it forms part of the tourism product.

The idea that oil resources might be more an economic curse than a blessing began to emerge in 1980s. From 1965-1998, in the OPEC countries, Gross National Product per capita growth decreased on average by 1.3%, while in the rest of the developing world, per capita growth was on average 2.2%. Today, oil constitutes 30% of total exports revenues in some 34 less developed countries and none can be classified as democratic.

This trend should obviously defeat all logic, but only if consideration is not given to the genesis and cycle of internal conflict within oil producing countries. In this model, oil resource is the spark and fuel for long running conflict. On the one hand, for any opposition force to destabilize a nation, it attacks the main source of income i.e. the oil producing region. Secondly, once in control of these regions, either fully or marginally, the resources are then utilized to finance the rebellion, hence creating a perpetual cycle of conflict.

Angola for example, is Sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest oil producer after Nigeria. Recently discoveries suggesting it could soon become the largest. But the 1999 UN Human Development Index placed Angola at 160 out of 174 countries. Angola, by all standards, should have a thriving economy. Instead it suffers from incessant internal conflict, with massive proportions of national wealth unaccounted for, and the well being of the population seemingly not being a priority to the government.

Sudan’s seemingly endless civil wars perhaps the largest running conflicts in Africa, also explain this phenomenon. Since oil began flowing from the Government controlled Heglig and Unity oilfields, which lie uncomfortably close to the battlefields in the war-torn south, there has been an escalation of the conflict in the Sudan. It also explains why the south has failed to become a fully independent entity and peaceful state.

South Sudan’s nascent oil industry and reserves are estimated at as high as here billion barrels. Countries that depend on oil for revenue bask in wealth, but overwhelmingly suffer what the economist has termed a, “Poverty of Policy”. The Ghanaian Chronicle of 28 February 2008 explores this phenomenon in an article titles, Nigeria’s resource cures.

In Nigeria, an oil wealthy state is a rich country with desperately poor people. Despite its massive earning from oil, 70% of its estimated 140million people live below the poverty line. More than 80 million Nigerians live on less than 1 SUD a day, in a country that has earned 340 billion dollars from oil since the 70s. Nigeria is ranked 144 out of 146 by the Transparency international Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2004. It is therefore right to state that Nigeria’s oil wealth has failed to generate development and rather only produced and rather only produced deep rooted corruption as the bedrock of internal policies.

So, where does Uganda stand in all this being a new player? There is a great disadvantage, unless the country guards vigorously against the problems faced by the majority of oil producing countries. There are signs that the oil curse prophecy may be proven true. Although a new entrant among Africa’s oil producing countries, Uganda has seen tension rising over the Island of Rukwanzi in Lake Albert. The tiny Lake Albert Island has already become an area of contention between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Island lies in the Albertine Gorge which is the foremost area of recent oil discoveries. It also lies along the disputed 160 km long border of Western Uganda and the DRC. Although the Island is barely 3 km wide, it is strategically located as a base for oil exploration, which has been ongoing for several years. Hostilities broke out when a Canadian Heritage Oil expatriate worker was shot and killed on 4 August 2007 by the Congo soldier.

Further more, though there is a belief that projected revenues from oil shall rescue Uganda from external budgetary support. However, this may well come to naught. The key to economic independence, regardless of increased resources, will be a commitment to fighting corruption.

Uganda is advantaged in that oil discoveries have come later rather than earlier. The country needs to learn from the mistakes made by other countries and make the most out of this opportunity.

Defined in varied perspectives, but in this context; Culture will refer to modes of thinking and doings of a given people. In that perspective, culture will be characterized by a people’s traditions, life out-look, music and dance, modes of ownership, customs and beliefs, eating manners, production practices, aesthetic values, modes of communication and other perspectives.
The given description of culture is non-exhaustive and one will notice that some of its components mentioned are not mutually exclusive and that some are embedded in others such as music- this is embedded in aesthetic values.

One can satisfactorily argue that culture helps us to perceive and understand really, assist us in attaching value to things, give us identity, determine our behavior, helps us to communicate, determine our roles and hierarchy in society and is instrumental in the way we produce and consume. It is on these grounds that specific roles have been put forward as functions of culture.

Scholars have argued that culture performs several functions including;

• It provides people with lenses of perception and cognition
• motives for behavior
• Criteria for evaluation
• A mode of communication
• A system of production and consumption
• A basis of identity
• A basis of stratification

Other sources argue that culture is distinct from nature; its knowledge, communication, a system of mediation, a system of practices, a system of participation, and is made of acts of predicting and interpreting.

All in all, we a comprehensive conclusion can be made to suggest that, culture is a whole people’s way of life that shapes one’s being, thinking and doing. In that respect, culture can therefore not be taken lightly.

Having migrated to their present site about four centuries ago, The Kikuyu spread rapidly throughout the Central Province and Kenya and they now make up Kenya’s largest ethnic group. They include some families from all the surrounding people and can be identified with the Kamba, the Meru, the Embu and the Chuka. The Kikuyu usually identify their land by the surrounding mountain ranges which they call Kirinyaga-the shining mountain. They are considered distant relatives of several people groups like the Meru, the Embu and the Chuka.
History of the Kikuyu

The Kikuyu ethnic group is thought originally to have been founded by a man named Gikuyu. Their history says that the “Kikuyu God”, Ngai, took Gikuyu on top of Kirinyaga and told him to settle and erect his home there and later given his wife, Mumbi. Mumbi and Gikuyu had nine daughters. There was actually a tenth daughter but the Kikuyu considered it to be bad luck to say the number ten. When counting they used to say “full nine” instead of ten. It was from the nine daughters that the nine Kikuyu clans -Achera, Agachiku, Airimu, Ambui, Angare, Anjiru, Angui, Aithaga, and Aitherandu came up.

Kikuyu today

Most of the Kikuyu still live on tiny family plots but many of them have also seen the opportunities in business and have moved to cities and different areas to work. They have a desire for knowledge and it is believed that all children should receive a full education. They have a terrific reputation for money management and it is common for them to have many enterprises at one time.

Kikuyu Culture

In the Kikuyu culture, family identity is carried on by naming the first boy after the father’s father and the second after the mother’s father. In the Kikuyu naming is done after the child’s grandparents. The same goes for the girls; the first is named after the father’s mother and the second after the mother’s mother. Following children are named after the brothers and sisters of the grandparents, starting with the oldest and working to the youngest. Along with the naming of the children was the belief that the deceased grandparent’s spirit, that the child was named after, would come in to the new child. This belief was lost with the increase in life-span because generally the grandparents are now still alive when the children are born. In raising them, boys work with the animals while the girls are raised to work in the farm.

Economic Activity

The Kikuyu’s chief economic activity is cultivation (farming). The Kikuyu rely heavily on agriculture. They grow bananas, sugarcane, arum lily, yams, beans, millet, maize, black beans and a variety of other vegetables. This is done both on small scale and large scale. Cash crops and horticultural produce is their main farming activity. They grow coffee tea, maize, beans, bananas, sugarcane, yams, millet, and a variety of other vegetables. They also raise cattle, sheep, and goats. They use the hides from the cattle to make bedding, sandals, and carrying straps and they raise the goats and sheep to use for religious sacrifices and purification. Though they are customarily agricultural people and have a reputation as hard-working people, a lot of them are now involved in business. A good number of very successful rich businessmen and women are from the Kikuyu tribe. The fact that the first president was a Kikuyu probably gave them a boost as they were able to acquire property in the now lucrative business centre.

Kikuyu politically

The Kikuyu are politically also active. The Kikuyu were the most prominent tribe in Kenya’s struggle for independence. Kenya’s first President, Jomo Kenyatta, was truly a Kikuyu and played a center role in Kenya’s struggle for sovereignty –a plus for the kikuyu’s rise to political and economic prominence. The legendary Mau Mau rebellion was largely composed of Kikuyus. The Mau Mau were lead by Dedan Kimathi who was credited for helping organize resistance which led to defeat of the colonial government The Kikuyus are thought to be very business minded. They form the majority population in major towns like Nairobi and Nakuru.