Village sage who brought together rival
politicians
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Mzee
Wanyonyi Manguliech
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Some might excuse political leaders from western Kenya who
gathered recently at the funeral of Mzee Wanyonyi Manguliech in Bungoma County,
for their highly charged pronouncements. However, those in the know associate
the MPs’ frenzy to the dead man’s kumusambwa, or spirit.
Manguliech was not just your ordinary village elder, but also a
cultural and spiritual leader of the Bukusu community – the largest Luhya
sub-tribe. Little wonder during his funeral a fortnight ago, tongues wagged
freely – some dangerously – in his honour.
Most significantly, the emotional harangue led to the now famous
so-called “Manguliech Declaration”. Vowing to join forces ahead of next year’s
General Election, presidential hopefuls, Trade minister Moses Wetangula and
Justice and Constitutional Affairs colleague Eugene Wamalwa agreed to collapse
their Ford-Kenya and New Ford-Kenya parties into one.
Lone
ranger politics
Other speakers, including Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo and Nominated MP
Musikari Kombo, launched a fresh bid for Luhya unity ahead of the polls, with
subsequent speakers seeking to isolate another presidential hopeful from the
region, Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, for playing “lone-ranger
politics”.
Others present included Forestry Minister Dr Noah Wekesa,
Assistant Lands Minister Wakoli Bifwoli and Kimilili MP Dr Eseli Simiyu. Owing
to a separate engagement on the same day, Mudavadi opted to visit Manguliech’s
family on the eve of the burial.
According to the “Manguliech Declaration”, Cabinet ministers
Wekesa and Fred Gumo as well as Bifwoli, will spearhead the Luhya unity course
with the view to identify a single flag bearer from the community. Asked about
the timing and venue of hammering out the political pact, Bifwoli says the plot
was always on the cards and the funeral of Manguliech only provided the
opportunity to seal it.
“Considering that Mzee Manguliech has served as our cultural
leader and advisor on political affairs, there was no better opportunity and
honour to bestow the old man other than make such a commitment on his final
day,” says the minister.
According to the Bumula MP, the late cultural leader was an
advocate for unity among the Luhya, famed for their mulembe (peace) attribute.
He longed for a united leadership, and Bifwoli accordingly says the “Manguliech
Declaration” is a fitting tribute to the old man’s wishes.
Spiritual
leader
Besides his political duty, University of Nairobi Literature
lecturer, Wabende Kimingichi, says Manguliech had a more solemn and delicate
duty as a spiritual and cultural leader.
He was charged with the duty of khuswala kumusee, which loosely
translates to “walking in the arena” but essentially means performing
after-death rites. Kimingichi, who hails from the community, explains that part
of this role involves narrating to mourners the history of Ababukusu (the
Bukusu community), including tracing various cultural rites such as
circumcision and the relevant age-sets.
With regard to circumcision, for instance, a kumusee performer is
able to advice on how several age-sets should be distinguished from each other
“and in so doing, he will be recording the history of the community,” says the
don.
“Ordinarily, the Bukusu do not have a centralised system of
leadership and so Manguliech, the best among the kumusee performers, easily
emerged as the focal point of the political leadership,” says Kimingichi.
At the time of his death, Manguliech was the most revered Bukusu
elder and politicians and local leaders, alike, jostled for his attention. He
was a respected old man in whom the community’s cultural values and secrets
reposed.
Virtually every key political figure in the community consulted
with him. Former Vice President, the late Michael Kijana Wamalwa and the late
Masinde Muliro were particularly close to this man who hailed from Chebukwabi
sub location, Kibingei village of Kimilili Constituency.
He was a close relative of the highly regarded prophet of the
community and leader of “Dini Ya Musambwa”, Elijah Masinde. Manguliech was a
first cousin of the mother of Masinde – the respected post-independence seer.
Locals listened to him keenly whenever he spoke and when he fell sick,
politicians joined hands – sometimes scrambling to outdo one another – to
attend to his medical needs.
In 2007, for instance, this writer met and interviewed him a
couple of hours after he had been flown to Nairobi for medical care. This was
in November, just a month away from the General Election, and Manguliech’s
condition was of grave concern to political players.
He landed in Nairobi via Jetlink Express Airline to be fitted with
an artificial limb – thanks to the generosity of Wanambisi Masibo, a
parliamentary aspirant for the Kimilili seat in Bungoma East District. In
Manguliech’s own words, “it was an exciting experience to enter into and travel
in a bird’s belly”.
Bukusu
sage
Besides Mr Masibo, other politicians, including former Cabinet
ministers Musikari Kombo and Mukhisa Kituyi, have over the years contributed to
the wellbeing of the Bukusu sage.
Both Kombo and Kituyi are credited for taking turns to treat
Manguliech in several hospitals in Kenya and Uganda, including at the Eldoret
Referral Hospital, where he was diagnosed with diabetes and one of his leg
finally amputated.
Talking to this writer then, Mzee Manguliech said his leg had
darkened because of gangrene – the decay of soft tissues of the body because of
lack of blood to the affected leg.Among the Bukusu, as is the case elsewhere in
African traditional society, man – especially a revered spiritual leader – does
not just ail or die out of “nothing”. Some mysterious circumstances or someone
is always “blamed” for it.
There are accordingly whispers that politicians – jostling for
attention and possible endorsement – might have destroyed the grand old man by
enticing him with financial favours. Traditionally, a noble undertaking such as
khuswala kumusee is not supposed to be commercialised.
But his son, a born-again Christian, maintains his father died of
natural causes: “My father was a long sufferer of diabetes, from which he
succumbed. He would probably be alive today had he accepted to be amputated the
second leg last year, but he declined insisting ‘let me die with this one’”.
Irony
of faiths
The irony of their faiths notwithstanding, Pastor Joseph Wanyonyi
Manguliech of Apostolic Church has no regrets about his father’s path of
traditional spiritualism. He says the husband of five wives and 19 children,
was the best father ever.
In the meantime, Manguliech’s demise leaves behind a huge vacuum
in local politics at the turn of an election year: “Usually they sought his
blessings or interpretation of the unfolding political scenario,” says Wanyonyi.
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