Don’t delegate a female for Imbalu fete, Museveni told

During last year’s launch, the elders recount that spirits rebelled after President Museveni sent a female delegate, Ms Mary Gorretti Kitutu, the former minister of Karamoja and Woman MP for Manafwa District, as chief guest. 

 The imbalu candidates reportedly got possessed by the spirits and wandered into the VIP tent, causing a stampede. 

The ceremony ended prematurely as security personnel evacuated ministers and other dignitaries. 

The elders assert that such incidents were unheard of in the past, especially as the candidates traditionally know their way to the yard where circumcisions occur. 

“The incident was a sign that the gods were not happy with the arrangements,’’ they said.

Mr Steven Masiga, the spokesperson of the institution, explained that the gods communicated through the elders, warning against repeating past mistakes. 

“The gods have asked the President to attend the launch himself or send a circumcised man to represent him during this year’s imbalu launch,” Mr Masiga said, adding their desire to avoid the chaos of 2022.

Mr John Diffasi Wabuyi, the head of the 26 clans of the institution, described it as disrespectful for the President to send a female representative. 

He elaborated that in traditional practices, women were chased away with sticks whenever a boy approached the place for circumcision or the sacred swamps for rituals. 

“Even men who were circumcised in the hospital used to be chased away whenever we visited the sacred swamps to cleanse the boys and at the place where the boy is going to be circumcised,” he added.

Ms Irene Khaitsa Mangali, the commissioner for mobilisation in the institution and a former RDC, emphasised that culturally, a woman presiding over the opening of a circumcision year is an abomination. 

“A woman is not allowed [to come] close even near to a place where they are going to circumcise from. A woman is supposed to be inside the house with her legs flat on the floor. It is believed that the woman’s calmness inside the house also calms down the boy’s heart to face the knife,” she explained.

The elders have long criticised that the rituals, which initiate boys into manhood, are being modernised, deviating from ancestral traditions. 

Mr Job Wanambwa, one of the elders, insisted that the imbalu festivities should be regulated by the gods. 

“Our educated sons have abandoned our values and now they treasure the White man’s values. This is our culture and we practice it the way we inherited,” he said.

Mr Peter Gusolo, another elder, lamented the loss of traditional practices, saying if Bamasaaba had adhered to their original version of imbalu, their culture would be more globally celebrated. 

“Those daring moments in imbalu exhibit responsibility and the ability to withstand trials, but unfortunately, they are being swept away by modernity. Our culture is becoming shallow, and those supposed to protect it have joined those fighting it,” Mr Gusolo said.

Female voice

However, Ms Rebecca Janet Nagami, a human rights activist, accused the elders of using culture to demean women. 

“It is unfortunate that elders can zero down to such a conclusion that further erodes the gains the government has made in women’s emancipation and gender equality,” she said.

This year’s imbalu launch is scheduled for August 3 at Mutoto Cultural Ground in Mbale City, expected to be presided over by President Museveni, accompanied by Kenya’s President William Ruto and other dignitaries. Invited guests also include seven kings from Nigeria, three from DR Congo, King Mswati III of Eswatini, the chairman of all Kings in Africa from Ghana, and other Ugandan cultural leaders.

About Imbalu

Imbalu is held every even year among the Bamasaaba, who hail from the districts of Mbale, Namisindwa, Bududa, Bulambuli, Manafwa, Sironko and now Mbale city. The festivities have already kicked off in different parts of the sub-region with candidates donning traditional beads and bungles, rehearsal imbalu songs and dancers ahead of launch.