Although
it is not purely a preserve of the Gikuyu community, guturamira, the act of cursing someone by stripping is arguably one
that has featured across the cultures of several African communities albeit
expressed in different diction. At least, I have encountered its equivalent
being discoursed about amongst the Akamba community in a number of contexts. In
Kĩkamba it is commonly referred to as ngumbe.
Word
has it that this curse is executed by a woman against someone who has irked her
enormously or towards someone who has immensely acted against the norms and
values of the community. It can be enacted singularly, meaning that it can
involve the act of ngumbe or guturamira by an individual woman or it
can be collectively executed by a group of women. Whichever the case, the
woman/women are generally expected to be child bearers who demand respect owing
to the stature that motherhood and other responsibilities have bestowed upon
them.
Ngumbe or
Guturamira is considered to be a
powerful curse, indeed the ultimate curse because it involves being exposed to
a mother’s genitalia. The woman would face away from the victim, exposing her
back then strip stark naked and bend backwards! It is an anathema which only
few people in Kenyan communities can attest to having been witnesses to/of. Henceforth,
the accursed victim is occluded from social events or activities of the given
community – excommunicated!
There
are many postulations regarding why the curse is despicable but it appears that
as an adult it is excruciatingly painful to be compelled to witness the
nakedness of your “mother”. It is a brutal act that violates ethics at its
core. In this case the mother figure emblematises anyone whose age and social
standing reflects the equivalent of someone’s biological mother. I can posit
that perhaps a woman recoils into her maternal instinct so that when she is at
the end of her wits she reaches for the life birthing tool to curse a person to
damnation. It is a complete cycle – whatever gave birth to you ironically
becomes a source of death so to speak – social death in this instance!
Although
not commonly referred to, there are instances where old men have been
implicated in ngumbe or guturamira. My knowledge on this is
limited but I am privy to discussions amongst elderly men in my community who
have hinted that an old man can also use his genitalia to curse. For the men, the
stripping and exposure of genitals does not involve showing the back rather,
they would do the act whilst facing the person one on one. However, the fact
that this is uncommonly spoken about intimates that is not as prevalent as that
by the women.
Historically,
during the arrest of Harry Thuku in 1922, a woman by the name Mary Muthoni
Nyanjiru was shot dead by colonial agents who might have been out of touch with
probably “primitive acts and practices!” during a rebellious act of guturamira to resist Thuku’s arrest. But
during the struggle for multiparty democracy in Kenya, guturamira served the purpose because the police recognised the cultural
dynamics at play when the women, cornered and helpless, decided to invoke it as
a means of self-defence and as a mechanism for survival and self-preservation.
However,
the incumbent president, Moi, chose to read the act as a barbaric behaviour by
women who had lost their minds. Never mind that his anger might have been
specifically directed at the late Nobel Peace recipient – Wangari Maathai. In
the end the women, whose sons were political prisoners, won their battle to
have them released from political detention amongst them Koigi wa Wamwere. Naturally
pressure from human rights groups such as RPP (Release Political Prisoners) and
other international bodies helped to exert pressure on the government.
Therefore,
the ngumbe or guturamira is a cultural practice whose invocation should spell
doom and elicit dread. Am reminded of a cultural belief from a remote part of
Ukambani where if an old man is extremely angry with you he chooses to point
his finger towards anything else but the victim. I cannot substantiate the
truth but rumour has it that if he points towards a tree, it dries up within
days! Indeed we need to guard against behaviour and other acts that violate
cultural norms so as to preserve ourselves against the shortfalls of ignorance
and human fallibility.
