Suspicions over sorcery remain

The circulation departments of the newspapers that had news of the death of a man known as Ayub Kathata from in Meru County may have noted an unusual spike in sales on that day.

They probably credited the increase in readership to the human-interest stories on the size of his family, which included a 35 wives, 131 children and numerous great-grandchildren.

To many grassroots observers such as yours truly however, the local interest in Kathata’s death had little to do with the fecundity of his loins, though this was only rivalled in recent times by the late Akuku Danger in the old South Nyanza and a certain ‘Jehovah Mungu’ Masinde in Bungoma County who, like Ayub Kathata, also died last year.

News of Kathata’s demise was received with great trepidation by the peace-loving residents of Meru County and relief by the criminal classes because while he lived, he had managed to reduce crime, something which the chief and the police had failed to do.

His abilities as a witchdoctor were legendary and he was regarded as a recourse of last resort when the police and the chief had failed to resolve a crime and punish the culprit.

You must keep in mind that in much of Meru, people rarely die of natural causes unless they literally drop dead due to old age.

Road accidents, suicides and even illnesses — especially if they are short and result in sudden death — are analysed in great detail to find out if the victims had somehow partaken of the forbidden fruit of theft or had fallen foul in a land dispute.

When there was a spate of deaths of mainly young men in Igoji a couple of years ago, they were all linked to a number of unresolved crimes such as theft and it was widely held that Kathata was responsible for this mode of ‘justice’.

It did not matter that the causes of death greatly varied and ranged from a suicide to road accidents and short illnesses.

When the medicine man died last year therefore, it was feared that this would be followed by an outbreak of criminal activity that had not been witnessed before.

Celebration

It is said that for a week after his demise, there was celebration among the criminal elements because a great enemy of their nefarious activities was no more.

The other time I witnessed such interest in a person’s demise was when a certain woman of mixed-race descent was involved in a motorcycle accident near my village.

Though outwardly she owned a shop at our local shopping centre and was even involved in various social activities, the fact that she was ‘different’ on account of having an Asian father marked her out and many dark things were said about her.

It was claimed that she ran a secret occult racket through which she supplied powerful potions to women that enabled them to turn their husbands into pliant zombies so that they could ‘sit’ on them.

According to the narrative prevailing at the time, it was easy to tell a family where the wife was a client of the mixed-race businesswoman.

If the wife appeared to call the shots and did the banking and shopping for the family, it was clear that she had a potion.

Outgoing women who were active in social activities such as attending harambees and church functions while their husbands remained home tending the livestock were suspect.

Even more so were women who engaged in elective politics or even concerned themselves with such manly activities as running of the local cattle dip.

Men who allowed their wives to accompany them to social places such as bars risked being branded victims of a potion.

After the mixed-race woman’s death, it was rumoured that a stash of ID cards belonging to women was discovered in her house, evidence of her large client base.

I have been unable to verify another rumour that after her death, previously docile men suddenly turned on their wives and started asserting themselves, often with tragic results.