Witchdoctor's randy romps with barren women laid bare as victim stages rare protest

Residents of Egoji, Meru County, had comic relief after the randy romps of an alleged witchdoctor who sleeps with barren women to make them fertile, were laid bare when a victim staged a protest, scandalising him in the neighbourhood.

It was a day of reckoning for the traditional healer, said to be in the habit of taking advantage of barren women’s desperation and vulnerability.

The unidentified and self-confessed barren woman, who represents many others in a society where stability and success of a marriage is measured not by love among spouses but number of children, had been referred to the ‘witchdoctor’ by a friend.

The ‘witchdoctor’, notorious for prescribing sex as the remedy to a host of ailments, including barrenness, duped the woman and had his way with her several times, but it bore no fruit.

Furious that she had failed to get pregnant, even after letting the healer raid her cookie jar many times, the frustrated woman staged a ‘one-man’ protest in the ‘witchdoctor’s’ neighbourhood, disgracing him to anyone who cared to listen.

Just like many barren wives, the woman panicked when medics diagnosed and confirmed to her that she can’t give birth. Her friend advised her to enlist the services of a renowned traditional healer who had allegedly helped many of her ilk give birth.

When she consulted the ‘witchdoctor’, he advised her that to appease the spirits, she needed to bring with her a black cockerel and a packet of maize flour, among other goodies.

Yelling incantations

However, that was not all; the healer told her that to seal the deal, he had to sleep with her to cleanse her womb. She immediately embarked on a mission to acquire the purely black cockerel, which is a rare bird in the Meru region, due to its high demand by ‘witchdoctors’.

That she had been warned not to argue with the healer ensured she obeyed each and every request he made.

“Spirits hate noise! This is not a place to argue and bring your-know-it-all attitude. Disagreeing with the chosen one will spell doom to this whole thing.

“Also, the process of making way for the baby is a delicate one, and requires meticulous planning. We cannot allow anything to go wrong,” the witchdoctor reportedly warned the client.

When she arrived at the ‘witchdoctor’s’ shrine, he jumped up and down, yelling incantations and took her through the motions. The healer ordered her to strip butt naked so as to allow the spirits open the doors that produce babies.

Meanwhile, as all the madness went on, the woman was strictly observing yet another order — closing her eyes as the witchdoctor worked on her, lest she annoyed the spirits.

Curious onlookers

When the ritual was done, she was asked to dress up as the ‘witchdoctor’ praised her for the co-operation, and told her the spirits were equally pleased but that she should be patient enough for the baby.

The healer prescribed a couple more similar sessions, which the woman obeyed. Unfortunately, months went by but she never got pregnant, prompting her to disgrace the witchdoctor by protesting outside his shrine.

The ‘witchdoctor’ ignored her, and once she got tired, she began telling her story to a crowd of curious onlookers who were milling around, before she left the scene a dejected woman. The scandalised ‘witchdoctor’ has since become talk of the town.