Part 3

Macha learns about the kithitu oath of the Akamba and seeks to evoke it upon those who have harassed and impoverished his family.

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Chapter Six

It was on Saturday afternoon when Macha’s taxi arrived in Mbooni, at a home where he felt he belonged. He had hired the taxi man for two nights, having also vowed not to return home without seeing Mumbi. But Mumbi was not the reason that had brought him to Mutunga’s home. The subject matter was the kithitu Mutunga had once talked to him about.He felt excited about it.

Maybe that would be the miracle that would strike Waruingi’s family to surrender the land to the Macharias. It was an exhilarating thought for Macha since this would change his family’s fortunes forever. He felt giddy just thinking about it. All he knew was that he would never surrender; he would keep trying—not once or twice but many times.

Mutunga received Macha with great joy, embracing him like his own son. “Welcome home!” he shook Macha enthusiastically by the shoulders. Macha’s heart was beating fast when he thought of asking about Mumbi, but he held back. Patience, he told himself. How would he introduce the subject? He asked himself. But Mutunga’s beaming face took the doubts off his mind.

Finally, he saw her. And he was elated. Life can be very unpredictable. Macha was pleasantly shocked to find Mumbi never got married. But she had a child, a nine-year-old son. The birth of the child had not affected Mumbi’s beauty at all. She looked every bit as young and beautiful as Macha had left her.

He had mixed feelings, and was rather confused. Unexplainable waves of anxiety swept through him as he talked to Mumbi who was now withinreach, looking at him with her inquisitive eyes. She couldn’t hide her thrill in seeing him. She twirled, squirmed, bit nails, dug her toe into the ground, smiled and laughed as they talked. It was a captivating moment for both, and it felt like the breaking of a dawn to something bigger.

Upon their arrival Macha’s changed his mind about spending the night then leaving the next day. It was as if he was trying to avoid something. Maybe he wanted to get as far away from Mumbi as he could, before his heart betrayed his deep feelings. So he sought to speak to Mutunga privately before sunset. He figured he could still get back after sunset.

Macha held up a black plastic bag to Mutunga and said, “This is the soil I have harvested at the gateway of the family that grabbed our land. I have come prepared for the kithitu thing. Tell me, where do we go from here?”

Mutunga received the packet of soil, opened it and checked to confirm it was soil, then he turned his eyes to Macha and said, “You’ve brought a heavy subject.”

“Impossible to accomplish?”

“Not that. It demands consultation. I know the procedure, but it is something I have never done. I need to consult. Furthermore, kithitu diviners are rare. There are fake ones after money, but there are genuine ones. Modern people have commercialised many things. But, as you know, prostitutes are not wives because they can nurse you. Now that I see your seriousness, give me two weeks to hunt for the right thing. It’s good that you’ve brought the soil sample. That is step one.”

Macha left with a heavy heart, and tried his best not to look back or think about Mumbi. But it wasn’t long before he sought out Mutunga again.

He returned after a fortnight, but Mutunga requested for more time. He however assured Macha, “I’ve made some progress. Sorry for the disappointment. Give me another two weeks.” Mutunga made him realise the process was long and tedious. But he read hope in Mutunga’s face. It was during that meeting when Mutunga disclosed to him how kithitu was becoming popular due to corruption in the judiciary.

“Kithitu will never fail you,” Mutunga emphasised. “It may seem primitive to some people. The damage was done by colonials who didn’t understand it and confined it to the grave, labelling it a primitive practice. Christianity, on the other hand, buried it but, believe me, in a very shallow grave.”

The second visit rekindled Macha’s intense feelings for Mumbi. He realised he had never stopped loving her and how precious she was in his life. Just then, another thought occurred to him: Could her father’s delays of the kithitu function have been deliberate? Possibly to encourage Macha to fall in love with Mumbi again? Or could it have been a coincidence?

He also wondered whether he had also come to Mutunga’s home because he was depressed after Njoki’s disappearance? Did he really love and miss Njoki and was only coming to Mumbi on a rebound? Or was fate playing a game with him?

He decided to take the bull by the horns and asked Mumbi out. He desperately wanted to hear from her something about the father of her son. But Mumbi told him nothing. He however noted the bitterness in her voice as she answered him. It was evident she had been hurt by the father of the son.

The son was a good-looking boy with sharp, inquisitive eyes. He kept peeping at Macha then looking away. He had the same evasive look when Macha was talking to him.

Macha returned for the third time with mixed feelings. He was excited to see Mumbi who appeared prepared for him.

“Unfortunately, I have to disappoint you again, though in a different way,” Mutunga started. “Everything is ready, but there’s a procedure that must be followed before the material day. Tradition requires that before evoking kithitu on anyone, you must give him and his family a month’s notice.

“This ensures the victim has time to share and discuss with the family. You see, kithitu does not strike in a coordinated pattern. It goes for any person related to the intended person. It can strike the victim first or last. In our tradition, kithitu is most feared. It is never taken lightly. Everyone avoids being the subject of kithitu. When the family gets the notice, it has the opportunity to evaluate the demand. If they determine that their relative is guilty and he might earn them the wrath of kithitu,  they urge him to admit his guilt. So, unfortunately, you must go back and give the Waruingi family notice. Can you do that?”

A dejected Macha replied, “I don’t know how to do it. He’s a big man, a Cabinet Minister. If he feels highly threatened, he can kill me before the kithitu is even evoked. It’s easy for these people to kill. They employ hitmen to carry out their dirty work. Money kills.”

“So?”

“I don’t know,” he answered matter-of-factly.

Mutunga thought for a while and said,“You don’t have to be the one to give the notice. Anyone from your family cando it—your uncle, for instance. You have paternal uncles, don’t you?”

“I’ve got one who lives in Nakuru. The others have died mysteriously. I think he can do it because he has connections. That means going back home and travelling to Nakuru. The problem is whether he will understand the need for this.”

“If he can’t, bring him over with you.”

“That’s might be the best way to do it.”

“I’m sorry, it comes at such a cost. You’ll have to give the person who administers it some money, but not much. I can even help you with that. Something else… Remember you’ll be the one to evoke the kithitu on the victim. No one else can do it, not even your mother. Women are excluded for other reasons. Your uncle can’t do it either. It is your claim.

“As a mature man, you will do it. I also have to warn you that it is done while you are stark naked and without any foreign substance on your body. In your case, you’ll do it stepping on the soil you brought. You’ll be instructed how to do it. Before doing it and after doing it, you will be prohibited from engaging in sex. The kithitu initiator will tell you for how long. There are other small but important details which will be given to you.”

Macha dropped a heavy sigh wondering whether that thing is based on superstition and witchcraft as people put it. “Why does its effect not simply target the victim and leave alone everyone else?” he thought aloud.

“I think its potency is influenced by what is called DNA. Have you heard something about DNA that, in our language we describe as blood relationship? All members of your family share a blood relationship. That is why children have to be subjected to a DNA test to determine a relationship.

“In Akamba culture it is a custom that the family gets a child described as mwana-wa-kithitu. Your blood and that of your wife begets a child with stronger relationship than simply one from your wife fathered by another man. This is the one described as weaker blood. In times of secret kithitu evocation on a family, the child with weaker blood is not affected like those with stronger blood relationship. If all others die, that one remains unscathed. This is why individual families make sure that, at least, one child has the weaker blood.That is, the family encourages a woman to get a child with another man. Have you ever heard of that?”

“Never! It’s absolutely news to me.”

“Well, now you’ve heard it.”

When Macha returned home, he spoke to his uncle on phone and explained about kithitu. His uncle was very curious and said, “I’m coming, wait for me.” Three days later on his arrival, Macha explained everything to him. But even after the explanation, the uncle wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Being financially endowed, he hired a taxi that took both of them to Mbooni. This was Macha’s fourth trip to Mutunga’s home. Macha had also expressed his interest in marrying Mumbi and wanted his uncle to meet her. Marrying a single mother was a complex affair.

Mutunga welcomed Macha and his uncle like old friends. He slaughtered a goat for them and bought the uncle traditional beer because the uncle wanted to taste the Akamba brew. Mutunga didn’t take alcohol at all. He was a teetotaller.

The uncle enjoyed the visit very much and made friends with Mutunga after getting all the exciting information about kithitu. He couldn’t wait for the results. He would buy anything that would destroy Waruingi’s family. What Waruingi had done to Macha’s family could never be taken back, but it would be good to seek some retribution.

Political campaigns were already in full swing and the General Election was due in four months’ time.

This was the third and final instalment in this serialisation. Did the African solution deliver justice to the aggrieved? For answers, look out for The Haves and the Have-Nots when it hits the bookshelves.