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Anneth Mutheu, the 40-year-old Kamba woman and mother of six uses kamuti to hunt unfaithful partners in Kisii and neighbouring counties. This is her story:
I was born in Kitui and I’m a Class Four dropout. I was not able to continue with school because my ancestors demanded that I become a witchdoctor, something that is in our lineage.
As a child, I would have nightmares and see my grandmother raising her hand to give me her tools of trade. I used to spend a lot of time with her in the bushes while she sought herbs and roots for her work. Also through bed time stories, she taught me a lot of things about her work. Before long, I became her apprentice.
When my grandmother passed on, she left me with her tools of trade because the spirits had chosen me, so I took over and started to do the work.
Although I later got married and had six children, the spirits would not allow me to live with my husband so we separated. They also forced me to move to Kisii because of high levels of immorality in the region.
I discovered that most of marriages break up due to cheating and I have kamuti which I use to lock and unlock the unfaithful ones.
But before I give out that kamuti, the complainant must convince me that they are legally married to the cheating partner. I do not do mpango wa kando or boyfriend/girlfriend relationships because my kamuti only works on married couples who are unfaithful.
The person who wants a cheating or husband ‘locked’ pays me Sh50,000 while the guilty one who will get stuck must cough Sh100,000 to get ‘unlocked’. If medicine is not administered to separate the cheating couple within six hours, they will die. Of course it is a painful thing, but it has helped many couples to avoid mipango ya kando and safeguard their marriages.
I use two types of kamuti, one to lock and the other to unlock. The one for locking works like a hinge and has a drawing of a man and a woman’s sex organs on the left and right flaps.
Once a complainant visits, he or she writes their full names and that of the cheating partner on a paper which is folded and placed inside the kamuti. The moment I snap it shut, the hunt is on, and moment the unfaithful partner has sex with his or her mpango, they get stuck.
My medicine never backfires. If you are unfaithful, I will catch you. The penis will get stuck inside the woman’s vagina. This is very painful for both of them and struggling to get separated only makes it worse.
My kamuti can also make a woman to start bleeding heavily when she’s about to have sex with the mpango wa Kando, while for a man, his penis will simply refuse to erect when he is with a mpango but rise to the occasion when he is with his wife.
The work I am doing is hereditary. I don’t do it to enrich myself. It is a calling from my forefathers, something I do it to benefit society but not to cause harm.
I don’t deal with people who want to bewitch their neighbours. I don’t do that. But I give out medicine to protect my clients from evil perpetrated by bad neighbours and witches.
On a good day I receive 100 to 200 clients who pay a consultation fee of Sh500. Cost of treatment depends on the problem. On a good day, I can make as much as Sh400,000.
I’m not a fake doctor. Before I attend to a client, I have a mirror where I foresee their problem. One is not supposed to tell me his or her problem. That is my job. Sometimes, I assist needy people without receiving a cent from them. My clients come from Kisii and surrounding regions like Migori, Nyamira, Homa Bay, Siaya, Kericho, Bomet and sometimes Tanzania and Uganda.
Like any business, there is stiff competition, especially from fake witchdoctors who lie to clients and collect money without delivering results. This makes the public not to trust us.
I have mentored my second born twin daughter to carry on this work when I’m gone. I allow her to travel and meet other witchdoctors who work with powerful medicines so that she is not left behind.
My powers were given to me by my ancestors. They won’t fade away.
