ISUKUTI MUSICIAN
A very short History of the BUKHAYO Nation
Khayo, the great ancestor for whom
Bukhayo is named led the founding clans to occupy the geographical region of
Bukhayo circa 1700s (Wikipedia, 2022). The Abakhayo
migration from Misri (Egypt) began (circa 1200-1400) trekking along the River Nile via
circuitous routes through Sudan, Ethiopia and the Congo (DRC) to East Africa. The
founding clans of the Bakhayo trace their roots to Bugiri/Ibanda (Uganda) with
departure to Mundika, Nasira, Malanga and Matayos in Kenya. The clans were
Abaguri (Rulers), Abakhero, Abamenya, Adade, Abarebe, Abakimo joined by Abakhavi.
Others are Ababenge, Abamudiru, Abakhauka, Abakholo, Abamakunda, Abamwaka,
Abakangala, Abakhadonyi, Abakibe, Abakhoone, Abakhulo, Abamukwe, Abarunga,
Abamani, Abamulembo, Abatsoye, Abasuba, Abasikula, Abakwere, Abatura,
Ababele, Abakhala, Abadepu, Abalakayi, Abatulu, Abasonga, Abamwaya, Abaliba,
abamuduba, Abarede, Abameywa, luo and Iteso (Mukhule, 2018). The Abakhayo are a nation
among the contested greater Abaluhyia
federation created for colonial administrative purposes in 1943 (Ng'ang'a,
2006).
Nonetheless, the Bakhayo pride themselves with their own independent history, as
do the other nations among the Abaluhyia people. The Bakhayo are bordered by Luo,
Iteso and Kalenjin, Bukusu, Wanga, Marachi, Samia and have intermarried with
many relations among the Bagishu, Basoga, Karamajong and Baganda nations along
the Kenya/Uganda border as well as among many nations of greater Kenya. The
Bakhayo nation has warred against and intermarried with the Masai. Clan
lineages can be found as distant as Siaya, Narok, Tanzania (Kagisero) and down to
the Kherero of Namibia. Other accounts capture subclans including Abalanda and Abasia that gave Busia town its name. The Bukhayo nation has six rivers; Sio, Walatsi,
Namolwe, Nageni, Lelekwe and Musokoto. Nambale
is the historic, commercial, administrative, spiritual and cosmopolitan capital
of Bukhayo, where people from all over Kenya and the world call home. Its modern commercial base was driven by the
setting up of Asian dukawalla (circa 1900) following the construction of the
Mombasa-Kisumu railway by the British. Nonetheless, Nambale has attracted immigrant
settlement from many Abaluhyia nations and greater Kenyan communities including
the Luo, Iteso, Kisii, Kikuyu, Kamba and Somali. Substantive business is
conducted in cross border trade with Uganda in Nambale. The town hosts the
biggest market in Bukhayo on Saturdays.
All other markets observe market days on other
days of the week.
While
individual clans and family lineages have their own histories, Bukhayo is made up of a
coalition of clans who established themselves in the nation via intermarriage and absorption.
The ancestry of Bukhayo may therefore be classed as a migrant
community. This is evidenced by the abundant acquisition of names and words from surrounding
Nilotic and Bantu nations such as Olele, Oluoch, Nganga and Etyang in family and
clan lineages. Nyasaye, a name used in reference to God, is sourced among the Luo and Gusii. However, in border-less Africa, economic activity was engaged through the occupation of land. Migration was prompted by overpopulation and search for
cattle pasture. War was engaged in competition for resources and fertile
territory among clans and bordering nations. The Bakhayo were farmers,
fishermen, craftsmen, musicians, hunters, pastoralists and warriors. They would
move into an area, occupy the land, till the ground until the land became too
small for the population and their legendary large herd of cattle. Among the Bakhayo,
as in other nations, migration took place for reasons of pestilence, famine,
disease infestation and differences among neighbors. Migration also
took place at dispersion points by mutual agreement to expand the kingdom in
different ways. Such departure points include Nambuku and Nasira among others.
Nonetheless, the land was open and wealth creation depended on the hard work and strength of a man and his family to occupy the land. There was space to migrate to new lands and found new
clans to extend the kingdom.
The
society was made up of a deeply entrenched clan structure that allowed for the
emergence of further sub clans as family groups grew larger over time. The social organization and governance of the community was weaved into
the patrilineal leadership and relational family structure. This was not a
superficial hierarchy of filial respect; it was one that was accompanied by
authority, rank and responsibility to maintain good order at every level of
society. This meant that a man (Husband) was the head and leader of his family i.e. wives (organized in houses "Inzu" in order of seniority) and
children. The role of a wife was well constituted around managing the enterprise of family. It was carried with dignity as a societal office. A man was also accountable to the brotherhood in his family of birth. If
he was the first born in his family of origin, he assumed leadership among his
brothers. The same ranking relationship was reflected in the clan membership structure (eRika) until an overall clan leader and council was identified from the senior most members of the clan. There were variations to
this rule and a council of elders could select or elect a king apart from the one
designated by the patrilineal hierarchy. However, the general respect for the
core authority and seniority structures ensured a self-regulating society that did
not need police. Domestic, administrative, judicial, societal and matters of
war were handled from the household level and escalated depending on their gravity. Issues were only escalated, if need be, to upper level mediation and finally to the council of clan elders as the supreme court. The people were bound to collective social responsibility and followed protocol to resolve and regulate matters of social intercourse.
The
Bakhayo are exogamous, which means that they encourage marriage outside
the clan and freely give and accept in marriage among other
nations. Among the Bakhayo, it is not uncommon to find a second generation or
once removed cousin from another Luhya nation, bordering community or distant
nationality altogether. The Bakhayo have great respect for their in-laws. A
fact that may have contributed to their generally peaceful and respectful
nature in the treatment of others and the manner in which they approach issues amongst
themselves and their neighbors. Anecdotal evidence suggests that “all Luhya are
related”. This has high validity among the Bakhayo as well
as the greater Abaluhyia federation or “Mulembe Nation” (people of peace). One
needs to be careful, because if you quarrel with someone you don't know, you may later find out
that he or she is in fact your in-law. You will have nowhere to take your
shame. Diplomacy, integrity and faithfulness are necessary principles of a self-governing society. Through the principle of exogamy, the Bakhayo are well integrated and
intermarried with their neighbors. The Bakhayo living along the nations' boundary speak both or several languages that may be in the area. They are able to
communicate mutual respect and good neighborliness being careful to create and maintain understanding within the coexisting communities. The practice of exogamy has led to the establishment of Bakhayo sub clans among bordering nations and the nations
among whom the Bakhayo have passed through in their migratory journey such as the
Kalenjin and Maasai.
Over
the last two centuries (from the 1800s), the Bakhayo social, spirituality and economic
welfare has been significantly influenced by Christianity, Colonialism and
Globalization. The Bukhayo nation engagement with the White man goes back to beyond James
Grant in search of the source of the Nile (Circa 1860). However, records indicate that some citizens of Bukhayo were captured and sold into Slavery up until as late as the 1900s (Were, 1967). The motor car made its entry into the region in 1915. Nabongo Mumia got his copy in 1920. While the Bakhayo ancestors held to spiritual
beliefs in the fear of Were (God),
they also believed in the existence of spirits and life after death. The people sacrificially
entreated Were to favour the people and land with their needs such as
rain, good health and victory in war. Nonetheless, they also called on rainmakers, medicine-men and seers to safeguard the welfare of the community. The Abakhayo have been influenced by Christian
Missionary agencies including the Church Missionary Society CMS and the Church of
Scotland CS. In 1895 Bishop James Hannington (Mumias) passed through Bukhayo on his
way to Buganda and visited the home of Awori Khamatoga. On arrival in Uganda, seeking audience with the Kabaka, he was killed and his body hurriedly buried.
There ensued four years of great plague in the land. On the advice of local
diviners, Hanningtons body was exhumed and sent back to Mumias to avert further suffering
in the land. The body of the Bishop was once again rested in the Khamatoga
home on the night in which the late Cannon Jeremiah Musungu Awori, son of
khamatoga, was born. Cannon Awori would grow up and found Nambale Anglican Church
in 1946. Thus spread the impact of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches throughout the Bukhayo nation. Their teachings strongly influenced the reduction of polygamy and ancestral divination and have
introduced new customs of worshipping God aligned to the Christian tradition.
These Christian Missions set up schools, churches and hospitals that can be found in Mabunge, Kisoko and all over Bukhayo. However, the world was opening up and the Bakhayo would
soon find themselves on the global stage in World War I (1914-1919) and again in
World War II (1939-1945) fighting in wars that were not their own. They were recruited
to fight thousands of miles away in Burma, North Africa, Malaysia, Tanzania,
Israel. Ibrahim, Jason Asaba and many others who have never been acknowledged or rewarded sacrificed their lives on these international missions. Many never returned. However, those who returned brought back a new
disdain for the White man who relied on Africans to fight for him in his
battles. This previously unknown vulnerability of the White man fueled rebellion
in the Bukhayo nation as well as the MAU MAU in Kenya and independence movements
across the African continent (Kinyatti, 2008).
While
the missionaries occupied themselves with spiritual and redemptive practices
among the people, the engagement with the White man in the early 1800s changed
the course of the Bakhayo ancestral way of life. The Europeans ostensibly came
to explore the land, but shrewdly studied the people’s way of life, government
and administration. After the 1885 Belgium conference dividing up Africa amongst
European nations (Pakenham, 1991), the colonialists
ingratiated themselves on local leaders and council of elders and introduced
the principle of “containment”. Containment meant that the community ancestral "migrant" and "warring" habits were put to an end. The land became Crown land and
it was no longer possible to become prosperous by the strength or the work of ones hands. That power
was removed from the citizen and arrogated to the colonial administration. Not only was this concept dis-empowering to the people, it now required people to pay tax for living off the land. The colonialist subsumed and corrupted the Bakhayo governance system and mischievously instructed local chiefs and appointed headmen to oversee the
collection of taxes. They used the Bakhayo, respect driven, governance structures to
control the people and introduce the colonial administration (Were, 1967). Domestic matters that were privately dealt with in homes in the past were to be publicly reported to the Mukuru (headman). The colonial
administration widely used the myth of “ancestral lands" to create
geographical borders and zoning that insensitively divided families and
communities across borders irrespective of their lifestyles and culture. A
classic example is that of the sons of Canon Awori; Moody and Aggrey, who later
became national ministers in Kenya and Uganda governments respectively. In other words, over a period of a
century, the eventual partitioning of Africa by the Royal Geographical
Societies in Europe, challenged the age old tradition of
freedom of movement, migration and marriage and limited local national economic
growth to topographic locations. This unfortunate sub-division of the land and "zoning" of the people was
immediately challenged in local courts in Bukhayo as early as 1901. The colonialists cunningly ignored the principle of nations as a network of related families, in order to institute disruptive "divide and rule" edicts that caused major disorientation of social enterprise. However, the colonialists used the concept of zoning people into 'homelands' in order to access prime lands across the continent and caused great pain, suffering and complexity in land matters in nations like Zimbabwe and South Africa
The
principle of containment left the growing population of Bukhayo without the
option of “migration” and “war” to feed and satisfy their population. This has subjected
the people to abject poverty as the land became forcibly limited and economic
activity restricted. Repetitive tilling and occupation of land with a growing
population led to depreciating returns and rising poverty. Those who could, migrated to towns
while others turned from the land to unfamiliar commerce dependent
on the local consumption of foreign goods. The principle of containment forced
the people to grow crops for cash to secure the wealth of Bukhayo for European industries. In addition, the people had to support the colonial administration while servicing their own livelihoods without the option of migration and the independence of free trade. Ambitious enterprise like the first Cotton Ginnery in East Africa, set up by British investor CE Fox, in Nambale in 1922 (Kunwar, 1988), soon collapsed and with it the livelihoods of three generations of Bakhayo. The backlash of these kind of grandiose initiatives
have set back the nations development many years. They have left many people
living in abject poverty as the land is exhausted of its natural nutrients growing
“cash” corps for export that coul not be sold locally nor eaten by the grower, nor consumed by the domicile market. The people of Africa may need to think about
how to strategically bring down their borders to release economic prosperity
across nations.
The
principle of containment sought to contain the tribes for administrative
purposes and since it was cleverly woven into the Bukhayo nations own (accepted)
self-regulating governance systems of respect for authority, the people were
easily subdued by the colonialist without much of a fight. Even though there
were incidences of attacks on the White man, respect for authority carried the
day. However, the traditional clan and sub clan dynamics that enabled national growth
and governance in the past have now devolved into political and administrative competition
between clans during democratic elections. Smaller clans question the
right of the larger clans to perpetually rule over the community. However, the Bakhayo may need to carefully study and strategically leverage their intellectual, social and political capital to empower the people and secure their success in a highly competitive globalized world where everyone looks out for their own interests.
Due
to the limitation of opportunity created by colonialists and the stifling regulations adopted by the post colonial administration, the Bakhayo have migrated to the city and indeed around the world in search
of a livelihood and expansion of the Kingdom. Those who can afford it work hard to maintain two homes. One
in the city, the other in the village. Nonetheless, this is unsustainable. In
reality these Bakhayo have followed the migratory tradition of their ancestors to
new lands in search of new pasture (opportunity) and joined in the global competition
for resources (enterprise) far away from their land of origin. This has given
rise to the Bakhayo in the diaspora whose numbers are not known, but are
growing and may soon outstrip the numbers in their land of origin. Bukhayo is
therefore the fatherland of the Bakhayo. Today, many Bakhayo are not born in Bukhayo. They are not citizens
by birth, "ancestral land" or even language, but by traceable lineage to their roots in Bukhayo as an epicenter of their national identity. The Bukhayo nation now extends beyond the
geographic borders for which the nations' great ancestor Khayo is named. Nonetheless, culture still influences the political, governance, administrative
and economic prosperity of the people in the evolving story of the BUKHAYO Nation.
Allan Bukusi
31 May 2022
References
Kinyatti, M. (2008). History of Resistance in
Kenya: 1884-2002. Nairobi: Mau Mau Research Centre.
Kunwar, D. S. (1988). Ginneries and Cotton
Distribution in Kenya. Proceedings of the World Cotton Research Conference,
1062-1065.
Mukhule, C. (2018). The Abakhayo; Origins, Clans
and Traditions.
Ng'ang'a, W. (2006). Kenya's Ethnic Communities;
Foundations of the Nation . Gatundu Publishers.
Pakenham, T. (1991). The Scramble for Africa.
London: Abacus.
Were, G. (1967). A History of the Abaluyia of
Western Kenya. Nairobi: East African Publishing House.
WIkipedia. (2022). Khayo. Retrieved from
Khayo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khayo
Isukuti Musician- https://artsandculture.google.com/story/jQXxryGzsRkRKw
