Western Kenya split over ban on 'Disco Matanga'

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen in a security meeting, Baringo County. [File, Standard]

Among the Luhya community, a funeral is not complete without "Disco Matanga", which involves staging night vigils normally characterised by partying and frenzied dancing ostensibly to honour the deceased.  

Viewed as a community ritual, disco matanga has increasingly been linked to decaying morals, especially among the youth who use such occasions to engage in drugs, excess alcohol consumption, crime and unprotected sex, leading to the spread of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies among other social ills.