'Kamuti': The scientific explanation to witchcraft

The Nairobian of Friday, May 1, published an article titled, Toa lock: When couples get ‘stuck.’ In the piece, the writer mainly focused on the Akamba and some coastal people. The implication was that witchcraft is widely used by these communities to trap men who sleep with other people’s wives. The power of such a spell, it is said, punishes culprits by ‘locking’ them in the act, until cuckolded man turns up. In dismissing this claim, Ken Ouko, a sociology lecturer at the University of Nairobi, made this sweeping statement: “Among the Luo, if an old woman undresses and flashes her behind at you, it is believed that you will go blind and be cursed, but there is no scientific relation between an old woman’s nakedness and blindness.”