Post by Onyango Oloo on Oct 22, 2005 7:27:00 GMT 3
Tell Nyachae circumcision doesn't make good leaders
Malaki Mugemuke, writing in the East African Standard, Saturday, October 22, 2005
Energy minister Simeon Nyachae recently stunned Kenyans when he asked his Abagusii tribesmen not to accept to be led by uncircumcised men.
The myth that circumcision and national leadership ability are connected has been doing the rounds in Kenya for a while, and it is time we put the record straight.
Circumcision is a tribal custom, whose significance is relevant only to the beliefs of those embracing it, and to whom the cut is a rite of passage.
Circumcision appears in biblical history as a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God.
In later recordings, the discovery that people in other parts of the world were practicing circumcision prompted anthropologists and ethnographers to delve deeper into its meanings.
All concur that the cut is nothing more than a rite of passage. Nowhere does history record the cut as a significant trait of leadership in constitution making or in national affairs.
Indeed, if that were the case, Kenyans would not have had to contend with such a warped leadership by circumcised men in the last 40 years.
And we would not be squabbling over a right constitution for Kenya right now because Nyachae, himself a circumcised man, led Kenyans into the Wako Draft.
It would be impossible and actually primitive to try to apply universality of the rites of passage of one tribe to the political governance of a nation because each of a nation’s diverse tribes (both the cut and the uncut) have their own individual beliefs and customs governing their rites of passage.
Ethnographic literature embeds four interrelated themes in African rites of circumcision: fertility; virility; maturity and genealogy.
Each of the cut and uncut tribes of Kenya has a mechanism that governs their orderly achievement of these themes.
Occurring near puberty, circumcision initiates boys into manhood, which infers that they can reproduce; get married; have children and perpetuate the lineage in accordance with the tribal customs and beliefs. Clitoral excision serves a similar purpose in women.
Thus, the central themes in genital excision are procreation and fertility.
To understand that circumcision has nothing to do with effective leadership, one has to demystify and to demythologise the beliefs and customs surrounding the rites of passage.
To demystify is to remove the mystery. To demythologise is to divest of mythological forms so as to uncover the underlying meanings of the rites of passage.
When one is finished with demystifying and demythologising, one is left with a clear and comfortable appreciation of the fact that the province of national leadership is a stuff of the brains, not genitals.
However, the province of procreation and fertility is a stuff of the genitals. And God’s covenant with Abraham regarded fertility and procreation.
For many African tribes, initiation into adulthood involves trimming of genitals or clitoridectomy for females; and for males, circumcision by removing the foreskin.
The Kamba, Gikuyu, Maasai, Luhya and Gusii, among other Bantu tribes, practice their initiations through excision rites. Other tribes such as the Maasai and the Ndembu perform scarification on the face or other parts of the body in addition to circumcision.
But the Luo do not form strict groupings of their youth based on age or sex, and hence do not typically practice circumcision. The age groupings of the Luo youth occur primarily through schooling. The Luo have initiation rites of passage, yes, which are treated with dignified confidence and privacy. The Luo are keen to ensure that their rites of passage conform with their advancement to a civilised society.
Until the 20th century, the Luo and the Ndembu removed the six front teeth of the lower jaw, but the practice is largely abating. The Luo still initiate through a grouping known as oganda, which is informed by a council of elders who represent the major clans of the tribe.
The Luo rites of passage derive from the private rites customary in the Luo religion with its central deity called Nyasaye, the creator of the universe and all humanity. The rites include the inculcation of intelligence or rieko by the elders or senior relatives of the youth.
Following initiation, the Luo remain socially, economically, and spiritually attached to their ancestral homes in the lake region. But the Luo conception of societal responsibility, leadership roles, national citizenship and respect for the majestic miracle of humanity is informed by the absolute fidelity to the lessons of honour and dignity gleaned from the customary beliefs and teachings of Nyasaye’s central deity.
Any dealings between the Luo and other individuals is grounded on the conception of virtue of grace, (nyadhi) or ungwana in Kiswahili.
Thus, the Luo rites encompass an array of complex private initiation practices, which allude to basic social values, including the attainment of adulthood, social and mental maturation; stake into greater societal community and respect for ancestral edicts. Nyachae’s claim that a Luo man is not man enough to lead is, therefore, a primitive myth whose relevancy is baseless. It is baseless beliefs in myths like these that have sunk Kenya into the doldrums. The Luo do not practice genital excision, but they respect whoever does it as a cherished right of that individual to practice his or her own beliefs.
That is why the Luo have never insulted any tribe because of its beliefs and customs. But one can appreciate Nyachae’s difficulty in shedding the circumcision trump card. Nyachae’s formative years was consumed by controversies around the cut stuff.
At about the time Nyachae was graduating from Kisii Secondary School and receiving a diploma at Torquay College, an ethnographer by the name of Robert Levine published a study in a journal, curiously called MAN, about the Gusii initiation rites.
According to Levine, one of the major foci of the Gusii’s cultural conservatism was the initiation cycle, which involved genital operations for boys and girls.
The chief purpose of the operations was to distinguish the Gusii from their Luo neighbours who never circumcised. Among the Gusii, initiation played an important role in ordering life of the individual and his relations with others.
Levine’s article appears to shed light into why Nyachae might be feeling so bewildered by the reality that some, including the uncircumcised, are teaming up with the progressive kinsfolk of the Gusii tribe to defeat the Wako Draft, which he helped craft.
Nyachae should be counselled to find solace in the fact that what is at stake as regards a constitutional dispensation that works for all Kenyans, including the Gusii, should not be derailed on account of the difference in the practice of tribal initiation rites.
He should let the Gusii participate with the rest of Kenya in choosing a constitutional framework that will make posterity proud of us.
The writer is a freelance social commentator
Malaki Mugemuke, writing in the East African Standard, Saturday, October 22, 2005
Energy minister Simeon Nyachae recently stunned Kenyans when he asked his Abagusii tribesmen not to accept to be led by uncircumcised men.
The myth that circumcision and national leadership ability are connected has been doing the rounds in Kenya for a while, and it is time we put the record straight.
Circumcision is a tribal custom, whose significance is relevant only to the beliefs of those embracing it, and to whom the cut is a rite of passage.
Circumcision appears in biblical history as a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God.
In later recordings, the discovery that people in other parts of the world were practicing circumcision prompted anthropologists and ethnographers to delve deeper into its meanings.
All concur that the cut is nothing more than a rite of passage. Nowhere does history record the cut as a significant trait of leadership in constitution making or in national affairs.
Indeed, if that were the case, Kenyans would not have had to contend with such a warped leadership by circumcised men in the last 40 years.
And we would not be squabbling over a right constitution for Kenya right now because Nyachae, himself a circumcised man, led Kenyans into the Wako Draft.
It would be impossible and actually primitive to try to apply universality of the rites of passage of one tribe to the political governance of a nation because each of a nation’s diverse tribes (both the cut and the uncut) have their own individual beliefs and customs governing their rites of passage.
Ethnographic literature embeds four interrelated themes in African rites of circumcision: fertility; virility; maturity and genealogy.
Each of the cut and uncut tribes of Kenya has a mechanism that governs their orderly achievement of these themes.
Occurring near puberty, circumcision initiates boys into manhood, which infers that they can reproduce; get married; have children and perpetuate the lineage in accordance with the tribal customs and beliefs. Clitoral excision serves a similar purpose in women.
Thus, the central themes in genital excision are procreation and fertility.
To understand that circumcision has nothing to do with effective leadership, one has to demystify and to demythologise the beliefs and customs surrounding the rites of passage.
To demystify is to remove the mystery. To demythologise is to divest of mythological forms so as to uncover the underlying meanings of the rites of passage.
When one is finished with demystifying and demythologising, one is left with a clear and comfortable appreciation of the fact that the province of national leadership is a stuff of the brains, not genitals.
However, the province of procreation and fertility is a stuff of the genitals. And God’s covenant with Abraham regarded fertility and procreation.
For many African tribes, initiation into adulthood involves trimming of genitals or clitoridectomy for females; and for males, circumcision by removing the foreskin.
The Kamba, Gikuyu, Maasai, Luhya and Gusii, among other Bantu tribes, practice their initiations through excision rites. Other tribes such as the Maasai and the Ndembu perform scarification on the face or other parts of the body in addition to circumcision.
But the Luo do not form strict groupings of their youth based on age or sex, and hence do not typically practice circumcision. The age groupings of the Luo youth occur primarily through schooling. The Luo have initiation rites of passage, yes, which are treated with dignified confidence and privacy. The Luo are keen to ensure that their rites of passage conform with their advancement to a civilised society.
Until the 20th century, the Luo and the Ndembu removed the six front teeth of the lower jaw, but the practice is largely abating. The Luo still initiate through a grouping known as oganda, which is informed by a council of elders who represent the major clans of the tribe.
The Luo rites of passage derive from the private rites customary in the Luo religion with its central deity called Nyasaye, the creator of the universe and all humanity. The rites include the inculcation of intelligence or rieko by the elders or senior relatives of the youth.
Following initiation, the Luo remain socially, economically, and spiritually attached to their ancestral homes in the lake region. But the Luo conception of societal responsibility, leadership roles, national citizenship and respect for the majestic miracle of humanity is informed by the absolute fidelity to the lessons of honour and dignity gleaned from the customary beliefs and teachings of Nyasaye’s central deity.
Any dealings between the Luo and other individuals is grounded on the conception of virtue of grace, (nyadhi) or ungwana in Kiswahili.
Thus, the Luo rites encompass an array of complex private initiation practices, which allude to basic social values, including the attainment of adulthood, social and mental maturation; stake into greater societal community and respect for ancestral edicts. Nyachae’s claim that a Luo man is not man enough to lead is, therefore, a primitive myth whose relevancy is baseless. It is baseless beliefs in myths like these that have sunk Kenya into the doldrums. The Luo do not practice genital excision, but they respect whoever does it as a cherished right of that individual to practice his or her own beliefs.
That is why the Luo have never insulted any tribe because of its beliefs and customs. But one can appreciate Nyachae’s difficulty in shedding the circumcision trump card. Nyachae’s formative years was consumed by controversies around the cut stuff.
At about the time Nyachae was graduating from Kisii Secondary School and receiving a diploma at Torquay College, an ethnographer by the name of Robert Levine published a study in a journal, curiously called MAN, about the Gusii initiation rites.
According to Levine, one of the major foci of the Gusii’s cultural conservatism was the initiation cycle, which involved genital operations for boys and girls.
The chief purpose of the operations was to distinguish the Gusii from their Luo neighbours who never circumcised. Among the Gusii, initiation played an important role in ordering life of the individual and his relations with others.
Levine’s article appears to shed light into why Nyachae might be feeling so bewildered by the reality that some, including the uncircumcised, are teaming up with the progressive kinsfolk of the Gusii tribe to defeat the Wako Draft, which he helped craft.
Nyachae should be counselled to find solace in the fact that what is at stake as regards a constitutional dispensation that works for all Kenyans, including the Gusii, should not be derailed on account of the difference in the practice of tribal initiation rites.
He should let the Gusii participate with the rest of Kenya in choosing a constitutional framework that will make posterity proud of us.
The writer is a freelance social commentator