Tobong' Lore! Spectacular display of tradition and culture at festival

One group after another takes the stage, wooing the gathering with the sways and shows. Different genres, from folklore tunes staged in Suguta Valley down the ages to modern gospel tunes and to exhortations for payment of taxes, the show is a blend of the past and the present.

From the manner of his gaze, the President is clearly lost in the music. His aide, Farouk Kibet, moves up and about fixing one thing or another as communication director Wanjohi Githae repeatedly wipes an outpouring of sweat.

With just a few groups done, the President signals the ever-alert Kibet, who quickly surges forward. He wants a combined performance of all groups, probably to make everybody feel the part, and save time too.

Suddenly, the stage turns small as the President's party joins them in staging a "collabo" performance of a popular Turkana tune. As the sways of the white plumes decorate the stage, the expressiveness of the moment is just too plain to hide.

That a community afflicted by so much adversity- banditry, famine, marginalisation- puts all that aside to celebrate themselves is perhaps the greatest testament that Turkana is indeed a special place on the world map. Delegations from neighbouring Ethiopia and Sudan speak. But it's the Chinese Deputy Ambassador, Mr Zhang Zhizhong, who brings home the poignancy of it all.

"It's my honour to be here. I am a guest, but I do not feel like I am a guest because Turkana is the cradle of mankind. I am back home," he says as the crowds cheer him up.

He ends his brief remarks with a plea that sounds like music to the ears of the locals:

"All of the world's 8 billion people, each one of us should come to Turkana at least once in their lifetime."

At the Turkana Basin Institute exhibition stand in Ekalees Cultural Centre, a sizable crowd is slowly bulging and soon bursts at the seams. On display are fossils discovered in the basin, now arranged to tell the story of human evolution.

The locals want to understand their much-acclaimed ancestry. They are pushing and shoving for a better view of the 1.6 million-year-old skull of the inimitable Turkana Boy.

The Institute staff are doing their very best to explain the story of evolution in simple terms. But the inquisitive locals keep at it, digging further and further:

"Does it, therefore, mean that there might be another wave of evolution, that we might grow into something else unless we are careful?" a young man poses to the official.

She explains the process is a slow, incognito one. They inquire about the correlation between the human skull and the gorilla skull placed by. Her explanation that humans and apes share 99 per cent DNA profiles drops their jaws.

A few minutes past one, opposition leader Raila Odinga makes a dramatic entry in traditional wear.

The crowds gave a rousing welcome to his entourage, which included Martha Karua, Eugene Wamalwa, Peter Munya and Mwangi wa Iria. For what was clearly an ODM zone, Iria had to sit between the ODM Governor and the ODM leader.

What had been a beautiful celebration and display of culture begins to degenerate as tension takes over. Neither Raila nor the governor wants to join each other in dancing sessions.

Roots Party leader George Wajackoya arrived sporting a clownish smile and was widely applauded, calming the place down.

At 2:58pm, the Murungi had just taken a selfie with the affable Tranzoia County Executive Chanelle Kittony when hell broke loose. One side of the weary crowds surged forward, forcing guests to flee in all directions before order was restored.

Speeches resumed, and Turkana Central ward rep Ruth Kuya braved the hostile section of the crowd to serve it raw on the ODM leader: "We loved you like Jesus but you treated us like the devils. You denied us all the nominations but gave your daughter," she claimed.

On this trajectory on and on, it didn't take long before disorder resumed, and Raila and his entourage opted out of the festival to save the day. The governor apologised and said he did not invite Raila and blamed conspiratorial staff for the happenings.

[Nzau Musau is a Senior Programmes Manager with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom]