• Malonza said Butsotso cultural festival can play a huge role in opening up the Western region tourism and related economic activities.
• Malonza said the government is keen to elevate festivals to an international event in the league of Notting Hill Carnival.
The national and county governments will work together to train youth as champions of culture.
This is meant to transfer traditional knowledge and culture from the older generation to the younger generation.
This follows a growing concern that the younger generation is getting consumed, lost in modernism, abandoning what they consider less interesting and boring culture and traditions of their communities, which was espoused to instil morals.
During the Butsotso Cultural Festival in Eshishiru, Kakamega, young people gave the event a wide berth and were only seen coming in large crowds, escorting bulls for a bullfighting match, which is one of the cultures they identify with.
In a speech read on her behalf by Lesley Khayadi during the 14th Butsotso Cultural Festival in Kakamega, Tourism CS Peninnah Malonza said the programme to train youth is in line with the Butsotso Cultural Festival’s theme. The theme is integrating youth into culture, leadership and development, being one of the cultural celebrations in the country offering conversations around culture and heritage.
“Cultural festivals simply immerse us into our heritage and remind us of who we are as a people. The festivals also serve to attract both local and international tourists to experience the life and culture of local people. I would like to challenge counties to direct more investments in cultural activities within their jurisdiction,” she said.
Malonza said Butsotso cultural festival can play a huge role in opening up the Western region tourism and related economic activities and provide a platform for artisans, making cultural artefacts and performance artists.
The CS said the Isukuti in Kakamega has been listed by Unesco as an intangible cultural heritage, a clear sign of the immense opportunities that await the communities.
“The county has also exhibited at the Kenya Cultural centre and participated in Jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki arts and culture through its different traditional practices,” she said.
Malonza said the government is keen to elevate such festivals to an international event in the league of Notting Hill Carnival, which takes place in London, United Kingdom, annually attracting more than 2 million people. It is a celebration of the Caribbean Cultural Heritage.
“Similarly in West Africa and specifically in Nigeria, Calabar Carnival, also known as Africa’s Biggest Street Party or the Pride of Nigeria, is a week-long festival that attracts millions of locals and foreigners thus boosting tourism in the region,” she said.
Speaking during the event, Higher Education and Research PS Beatrice Inyangala called for a concerted effort to package culture and tradition in an interesting manner through social media and technological tools such as video games to attract the youth.
She said youth are missing a lot by shying away from traditions and culture of their communities, giving an example that there is an opportunity for healthy living being promoted by traditional foods.
“We call upon families and social groups to promote healthy living through culture. We need to sit with our children and enlighten them because with the culture and traditions we have values which are very important to bring unity among our people," Inyangala said.
"There are lessons from traditional foods that we should conserve the environment so as not to lose the benefits of trees and other traditional plants.”
She urged the council of elders to create generational change by engaging the youth while also urging schools to be instruments of traditional knowledge transfer through special curriculum to support molding of character of students.
Social Services, Sports Youth, Gender and Culture executive Moffat Mandela said the county government will increase funding for cultural festivals.
“We will invest in culture for it to become one of the income earners for our communities and the people of Kakamega. We shall organise a cultural week in 2023 to bring together all the communities in Kakamega to showcase their traditional practices,” he said.
He said only the Wanga and Batsoso communities in Kakamega county hold cultural festivals.
The Butsotso Cultural Festival was initiated in 2008 to celebrate the rich culture of the community with the aim of preserving it for future generations.
Batsotso Council of Elders chairman Paul Etemesi said the community will transform the festival into a tourist attraction to empower people economically and bring on board sponsors from the corporate world, Kenya Utalii College, Kenya Tourism Board, The National Museums of Kenya and the Bomas of Kenya.
“We would like young people to be part and parcel of our cultural activities for sustainability. When young people are custodians of our culture, we are assured of continuity. Our cultural activities include making traditional foods, entertainment, clothing, medicine and leadership regalia among others,” he noted.