#RIPFidel where I come from people dont die from natural causes especially Id they are young and promising like In 1994 I had the opportunity to spend two months in Naya for the first time. In the past we would go to visit for a few weeks full of swimming in the lake like ducks and eating fish like fish eagles. The moment we arrived in Naya and alighted from Kamolo bus, the smell of fish hit our nose and saliva filled your mouth. It was going to be fish day in day out what will change is species in method of cooking. That aside, one sunny afternoon as mom prepared lunch of fried tilapia, a young boy who I later learned was two years older than me because we share the name Otieno passed through our home. As usual my parents engaged him in village talk and invited him for lunch but he declined. He had to go his home near Martins Hill- we are cool like that, and go back and help his father build boats under the big tree my people call ngou. We were served, ate and relaxed as we contemplated how to engage the Naya sun. It can really shine in the peninsula. As we did what Luos call smearing our lunch down our guts, we heard screams and wailing from Martins hill. The lad who had passed by our home an hour or so ago was dead. Word spreads fast, our home is next to the road so my dad waited for about half an hour and confirmed from people walking to Lwanda Kotieno market from Ka-Martin as we called it. The family was in shock and this brings me to what the Odinga family could have done had Fidel died about thirty years ago. He was buried after two days but the family sought the help of Ogada Nyangire. Ogada was (or is if he is still alive) a revered witch doctor from somewhere in the greater South Nyanza. The whole of Naya waited for him to come and reveal who had killed Otieno. The village waited with abated breath and whispers of who could have killed such a young hard working man. The smart read the people who consult black magic are well known and several names went around on what I came to learn is called - ugali powered radio receivers. Ogada did not come, but sent his able assistant who arrived in Naya silently and people talked of many deaths under unclear circumstances that Ogada had unravelled. The day he was to conduct his magic I was afraid to go to Martins hill. I stayed home and waited for the stories. The witchdoctor had found out the killers by rubbing soil from Otienos grave on a 32 page exercise book and the names of the people from Otienos Kotago clan appeared in the book. I couldnt believe it. Ogadas assistant handed the book with his autopsy report to the family. Two days later, I get to meet a man I have came to label as the best orator in the world- The late Senior Chief Ayoki Nyawanda. I went to see for myself this exercise book, and there Ayoki was in the khaki uniform chiefs wore holding it in his hands. In his style, he waxed lyrical about death and witchcraft. Then he read the book, the writing was done in charcoal like material and the font was big. It was a composition written by Otieno from the world beyond. It was more of a biography, how he was born, who he was named after and how he grew up the finished with his killers. The whole crowd went silent. Ayoki could not make fun of the matter now. At last he said as Kotago clan they will deliberate on what to do. In short, it will be solved in house. We scattered silently, even the loud mouths could not believe their ears. The autopsy report had held their mouths tightly. I dont know what happened next but that is the day I believed that witchcraft is real. Imagine the Odinga family bringing a later version of Ogada Nyangire to Bondo. What will come out of the autopsy report? Luos and Luhyas never die a natural death.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 09:02:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015