The Sh200 million bribery saga and the Sh30 million undelivered commission, fact or fiction, have given Keiyo elders a test of illusion of their relevance in dispute resolution. They have failed this test. It has also demonstrated to them the changing value systems in an age that offers alternative ways of resolving disputes.
Keiyo elders should not be surprised then that their clashing sons ignored summonses for mediation. The elders had wanted to arbitrate the dispute between Supreme Court judge Philip Tunoi and his accuser Geoffrey Kiplagat.
This would have given relevance to elders, while conferring authority on the administrators of the ritual called muuma. The elders have been left behind, even as they maintain they have no confidence in the Judicial Service Commission team that probed the matter. The team turned a verdict of a possible ‘inappropriate’ contact between the judge and agents claiming a link to Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero.
Muuma comes with oathing and cursing; madness and death to the guilty party. Whoever lies under oath before the elders is cursed. The liar would go mad and eventually die. The scaring consequences may explain why the accuser and the accused shunned traditional mediation. One of them is probably lying and both may be economical with the truth, which is yet to be established.
The President is expected to form a tribunal to investigate the allegation that Justice Tunoi received a Sh200 million bribe to turn a positive verdict for Kidero in a petition filed by his 2013 governor election rival Ferdinand Waititu. The governor has refuted the allegation.
The judge, the elders say, ignored pleas to have the matter settled under a sacred tree in a village in Elgeyo Marakwet county. Tunoi has been described as a good man, and an amiable man who commands respect among villagers.
His accuser, a former Kass FM radio presenter, claims he went public when Tunoi stopped picking his calls. Where the broker had expected a huge commission, he was receiving death threats. Worse, he claims, strange vehicles were trailing him.
If there is fact to this Rambo-style drama where a briefcase containing dollars was tossed across car windows at a petrol station, then it is also possible the incident involved a syndicate of brokers who had a stake in the loot. Some deal fixers backstabbed the others. Bad blood soared, as the possibility of a commission faded.
The elders are surprised the father figure is enjoying the milk when the child is crying. They are baffled Tunoi did not find it appropriate to console his ‘son’.
Among the Keiyo community, respect between a father figure and a child is often taken for granted, which is why the Tunoi-Kiplagat issue worries the elders. They say the incident is causing bad blood between villages. A rift is reportedly growing between Tonui’s Kaptarakwa village and Kiplagat’s Chepkorio’s.
Justice Tunoi shares an age group with Kiplagat’s father. Even without blood relationship between them, tradition requires the accuser to call the accused father. The accused is also expected to treat the accuser as a ‘son’. The son is expected to take instructions from the father without question.
The son is not supposed to expect favours from the father unless the older man feels it is necessary to return a hand. Kiplagat is furious. He feels cheated and misused. On this one, the ‘cut’ was huge, the father figure is not going to get away with it. The judge is in denial. He is going to face a tribunal to clear his name.
The elders are also concerned their authority has been violated. They have lost the confidence of their children. But the elders are not alone. Like the Supreme Court, elders face a crisis of confidence. Nearly everywhere, elders have lost the grip on their communities.
From the Njuri Ncheke of the Ameru, to the Kaya elders at the Coast, and senior citizens of the lake basin, elders are losing the traditional plot. They are being sucked into petty politics.
Elders have been accused of abetting and fuelling the clash between Senator Kiraitu Murungi and Meru Governor Peter Munya over the 2017 governor election. Rival factions of the Luo Council of Elders are fighting for the cultural leadership of the community.
Like the Supreme Court of judicial elders, who have fallen short of public esteem, senior citizens have been entrapped in the divide-and-corrupt mentality of the political power elite. Principle and integrity have been abandoned, as individuals seek personal stakes in disputes.
The writer, a communications consultant, is also a university lecturer.