• Elders from the area say the tree fell facing the East, which means success.
• The elder said the fall signifies the end of a certain era and new things are going to happen in the region.
West Pokot elders will on August 2 perform rituals after a mugumo tree fell in Karas village.
The tree in Pokot language is known as simotwo.
While some residents raised concerns that the fall of the tree is connected to the election and means some leaders from the county will lose seats, others say there is nothing to worry about as it fell due to old age.
Residents who say the fall has nothing to do with the upcoming polls said in 2017 another mugumo tree fell in Kapenguria ward two weeks to the election and nothing unusual happened.
Elders from the area say the tree fell facing the east, which means success.
Elder Peter Lopetakou said the tree fell on the eastern side, a sign of blessing to the community.
“If the tree could fall on the western side it could be a bad omen to the community,” he said.
The elder said the fall signifies the end of a certain era and new things are going to happen in the region.
Lopetakou said that the tree had reached its maturity just like the way human beings die in old age.
“The tree had reached the end of its life span and it had to fall down just like the way human beings die,” he said.
Elders have urged the community not to cut the branches of the tree before the rituals are performed.
“We need to perform a ritual before it can be used since it’s a respected tree in the community. The ritual cannot be performed now since in our community calendar the month of July is a closed month and no ritual can take place,” Lopetakou said.
He asked residents to calm down and wait until next month so they can perform the ritual and the tree can then be used for firewood and timber.
Lopetakou said the tree has been in the area even before Pokot community migrated to the region and had reached its maturity, more than 100 years ago.
The elder said the tree is respected among the community as it brings blessings.
Lopetakou said the community used to perform rituals under the tree that brought blessings and barred any bad omen from hitting the community under.
Loyatum Harrison said the tree fell peacefully without causing any harm and asked residents not to worry since good things are coming.
Loyatum said the tree fell on the right side and in their culture when a man dies, he is laid to rest on the right hand facing Mt Mtello.
Edited by A.N
