Are African curses losing their sting?

Witch doctor displays his paraphernalia.

Among Africans, curses are believed to be dreadfully powerful and potent enough to kill, deafen, blind, jinx, mentally incapacitate, mute wombs and testicles and, in the case of Haiti, topple governments.

When former Coast Regional Coordinator Nelson Marwa threatened that the government would bomb Boni Forest and flush out al-Shabaab terrorists, a day later, elders warned him to leave their forest alone and threatened him with curses and other unspecified consequences.

"Keep off our forest. We rely on it for hunting and gathering. Bomb it at your own risk," warned elder Doza Dizo. Marwa never mentioned the bombs again.

Dr PN Wachege in a paper titled Curses and Cursing Among the Agikuyu: Social Cultural and Religious Benefits, describes curses as an incredible phenomenon perpetuated by the fear they elicit.

"The fear of curses and cursing is real. A curse is a disturbing anguish in life and living irrespective of whether one is educated or uneducated; celibate churchmen and women, or laity; pauper or billionaire; a peacemaker or peacebreaker," writes Wachege, adding that it is a fear that not even the Western or Eastern mainstream world religions have managed to annihilate.

But whether these curses work or not is another matter. Not long ago, the Agikuyu Council of Elders called a presser to curse SK Macharia's Royal Media Services for exhibiting a soft spot for Nasa flag-bearer Raila Odinga. Despite the alleged curse, aimed at jinxing Royal Media, Macharia's TV and radio stations are still minting the dough.

A while back, after the murder of popular businessman Jacob Juma, elaborate rituals were carried out by Luhya elders to curse his killers. A lit flashlight was put in his coffin, with the elders warning that the moment it goes off, Juma's killers would have collapsed and died mysteriously or gone mad. The torch is likely to have run out of battery power by now, but no one, to the best of our knowledge, has gone crazy or died in connection to the murder.

Earlier, Kalenjin elders cursed the killers of Meshack Yebei, an ICC (International Criminal Court) witness in the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto. The curse seems to have hit a brick wall.

Keep Reading

Meanwhile, the Njuri Ncheke elders from Meru cursed former Cabinet secretary Jacob Kaimenyi twice. In the first instance, they cast spells of misfortune on the CS in May 2015 for failing to honour summons over "controversial" remarks he had made about the council.

Kaimenyi had to part with a white, spotless bull and Sh100,000 for the curse to be lifted. In the second instance, a splinter group performed rituals at Nchiru shrine in Tigania West, cursing the CS as they accused him of fuelling division among the elders. In this instance, however, the CS told them to go to hell!

"They can as well go to hell. After all, they are not recognised by the Registrar of Societies and if anything, they had nothing to do with my appointment as CS," Kaimenyi hissed.

The biggest question on almost everyone's lips is, are African curses losing their sting?

The late University of Nairobi sociology lecturer Dr Ken Ouko once said tha thuman beings attribute anything they don't understand to a higher divine power.

"If for instance a witch doctor tried bewitching a man who doesn't believe in witchcraft, nothing will happen. It is the same thing with curses. These things had strong adherents back in the day, but Christianity came and belief in curses dwindled. But if the man is an adherent of the same principles of witchcraft or curses, he will be affected," Ouko said.

Psychologist Faith Nafula Atsango believes it is all about upbringing.

"If those are the things you saw your parents do, and the entire village believed in them, then 30 years down the line, you will still fear curses. The human brain is a powerful creation. If you believe you are cursed and sick, you will end up sick, and then you start blaming the curse," says Atsango.

Bishop Mwarandu of the Lords Gathering Centre says curses and spells are forbidden in the Bible and that they have no impact on a Christian's life, success, family or any other venture. But this view is not shared by Bishop Kiambi Atheru, the director-general of King's Ambassadors Network (KAN International).

"Faith is a general term, not just attached to religion, but to traditionalists as well. Whatever a person believes in, whether through religion or tradition will come to pass (Hebrews 11:1)," said Bishop Atheru, an engineer by profession.

Dr Wachege argues that whereas victims of curses suffer low esteem, a sense of helplessness and feel useless, unloved, unvalued, and hated, curses, because of associated phobia, nonetheless conservatively guide, guard and influence Africans in their sociocultural and religious life, thereby making them better people individually and as a community.