Bamasaba to elect new cultural leader in July
Umukukha Wilson Wamimbi (R) moves through the Butoto (cultural site) at the inauguration of the Imbalu circumcision rites in 2014. To his immediate left is Mr Bob Mushikori, one of the potential successors. Photo by David Mafabi
MBALE. The Bamasaba clan heads convene in July to choose a new Umukukha (cultural leader) of Inzu Ya Masaba when the term of Mr Wilson Wamimbi ends.
The Bamasaba occupy Sironko, Bulambuli, Mbale, Bududa and Manafwa districts and Western Kenya where they are referred to as the Babukusu.
Mr Wamimbi was elected by 26 clan leaders in July, 2010, as the pioneer head of the institution (Umukukha) and his term in office expires soon.
The Umukukha serves a non-renewable five-year term. The spokesperson of the Inzu Ya Masaba, Mr John Musira, said on Monday that the Bamasaba elders are already looking at eligible successors who include Mr Bob Mushikori, a Ugandan-born American, Mr Charles Walimbwa, the Manafwa District chairman, Mr Henry Magomu, the former prime minister of Inzu Ya Masaba, and Mr Umar Njofu, a Mumasaba from Western Kenya.
The institution is supposed to hold Bamasaba community together but Umukukha Wamimbi’s reign has been characterised by feuds among the Bagisu.
Mr Coenelius Wekunya, a former minister of Information in the Inzu Yamasaba, said the previously united community, bound together by the age-old tradition of circumcision, “descended into confusion, lack of vision and in-fighting” during the reign of Mr Wamimbi.
Prof Timothy Wangusa, the chairman of the Bugisu Cultural Board, the Bamasaba Cultural Institution, said self-styled cultural leader Wash Joseph Kanyanya disorganised the establishment.
On September 2, 2013, leaders in Bududa District ignored a High Court order and installed Mr Kanyanya as a parallel cultural leader in Bugisu sub-region going by the title Umukhungu Bukusu.
A-76-year-old Shaban Wambedde Wataba of Nabugoya village in Namanyonyi Sub-county, Mbale District, also laid claim to be the rightful cultural leader (Umugasha) of the Bamasaba.
Mr Wambedde says he belongs to the royal family of the Bamasaba where leadership is not elective but inherited.
The trouble
On September 2, local leaders in Bududa District ignored a High Court order and installed Mr Wash Joseph Kanyanya as a parallel cultural leader in Bugisu sub-region going by the title Umukhungu Bukusu to share space with Umukuka Wilson Wamimbi. The Bamasaba are one ethnic group living on the western slopes of Mt Elgon. They are united by their common culture of male circumcision and language – Lumasaba. Mr Kanyanya’s installation is, therefore, not just bound to accentuate those differences but is likely to put a knife on the unity of the Bamasaba.
