African royal, traditional leaders tour Wanga kingdom in Mumias

From left, Forum for Royals and Traditional leaders Chair King Mwami Godfroid Munongo of DRC, Treasurer King Peter Nabongo Mumia of Wanga Kingdom Kenya and Vice chairman King Torgbui Amenya Fiti (v) of Ghana during a visit to the Wanga kingdom in Mumias. [Courtesy]

As the devolution conference went down in Kakamega, an important event was taking place a few kilometres away in Mumias.

African royal and traditional leaders from various countries toured the Wanga kingdom, which mostly comes alive when politicians visit the Nabongo Mumia mausoleum as they seek blessings during the electioneering period.

The ruler of the Wanga kingdom, King Peter Nabongo Mumia II, hosted the Forum for Royals and Traditional leaders in Africa on April 24 at Nabongo Cultural Centre in Mumias.

King Mumia II said the meeting sought to integrate efforts by the kings and traditional leaders across the continent to promote and strengthen peace to consolidate African unity.

“The traditional leaders visit African kingdoms on a rotation basis and this visit had been pending since last year because of elections,” he said.

The leaders sought to find solutions to conflicts and problems of poverty and poor governance, especially in Somalia, Libya and South Sudan.

The forum chair, King Mwami Godfroid Munongo from the Democratic Republic of Congo, expressed concern over political unrest in many countries that continues to claim lives of innocent people.

Political development

“As traditional leaders we urge the African Union (AU) and the UN to step up their efforts to bring peace in the troubled lands,” King Munongo said.

The AU is yet to respond to the forums request for admission as observers in their conferences, he said.

“We are sending a reminder to the current AU Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat of Chad through our member and his countryman Sheik Aboubakar Assidick Abdoulaye,” he said.

Munongo said the forum is a tool of social political and economic development and promotes networking of local and continental institutions of traditional leadership.

The leaders resolved to push for enactment of legislation by parliaments to operationalise the Institution of Traditional or Cultural Leadership.

“In some countries in west and southern Africa, traditional leaders are privileged. In the DRC, we can even sit in the Senate. In some countries like Angola it is still difficult. The Forum for Royals and Traditional Leaders in Africa is therefore capable of instituting campaigns to introduce harmonised laws to eliminate the sharp contrasts that exist in traditional or cultural leadership,” he said.

The forum Vice Chairman King Torgbui Amenya Fiti V of Ghana reiterated their commitment to assist members through social leadership to eliminate poverty, illiteracy and diseases amongst Africans in rural areas.

The next cultural festival will be held on July 7 in the DRC.