Rainmaker who lived under a cloud of mystery

By AMOS KAREITHI

Wisps of mist miring around the tiny patch of ground hang around the canopy of the giant fig trees, giving the area a surreal appearance, like a veil covering a holy shrine.

Except for the dried caldera, atop the windy Kiima Kimwe that dried up in 1930s, the hilltop remains undisturbed, just as it has always been for the last 200 years, when it first offered refuge to fugitives fleeing from customary justice.

The fugitives, like thieves in the night, stole into the dewy mountain, through Kilingu and Kalama, with their cows, three women and two men. The journey had been undertaken under the cover of darkness and in utmost secrecy as Masaku wa Munyati hurriedly led his two sisters and a wife from his home in lower Sultan Hamud.

"A brother had killed a woman and Masaku’s family was eager to hide their only daughters. Traditions demanded that a woman from the offending clan be killed to settle the score. This motivated Masaku to flee," a 92-year old great great grandson of Masaku, Jeremiah Musau explains.

Musau revisited the history of Kiima Kimwe, which at the time was not populated, serving as a perfect hiding place for Masaku and his sisters. Although Musau has no records, he estimates that Masaku arrived at around 1816 and named the hill Kiima Kimwe (hill of the dew) because of its glistering morning dew. With the worries of Sultan Hamud forgotten, Masaku prospered, adding 11 more wives to his name, while his fame as a medicine man and prophet spread, enabling him treat animal and human diseases and foretell the future, occasionally providing rain when needed.

Entreat Almighty Ngai

Musau explains that Masaku first came in contact with the white man at around the late 1890s when some missionaries visited the area. While residing atop Kiima Kimwe, Masaku made the groove with his gigantic fig trees into an Ithembo, (shrine) where religious ceremonies were performed.

As Masaku’s fame grew, people would trek for days to his place, bringing goats, seeds beer, millet and all manner of produce to entreat the Almighty Ngai to hearken to their prayers. When the rains failed, Musau says Masaku would make elaborate plans, ordering tobacco snuff for three days, cooked food and then wrap his skin across his shoulders and embark on his mysterious journeys. Turning his head towards the half acre piece of land which once served as Masaku’s Ithembo, his great great grandson recalls one of the most recounted feats performed by the seer.

"At some point, Masaku, a father of dozens of children feared none of his sons would inherit his powers. However one day, one of his sons demonstrated that he was the chosen one," the old man adds. One morning, the aged prophet directed his son Ing’ang’u to take his (Masaku’s) cattle to graze in far away pastures which was equivalent to a day’s journey.

Before departing, Ing’ang’u spread a skin of a freshly slaughtered goat outside to dry and pegged it using very supple pegs and requested his father to remove the skin should it rain. At around midday, a mighty storm gathered and Masaku, mindful of his son’s welfare, rushed towards the skin to rescue it from the rains but realised he could not retrieve it from the pegs.

Disgusted, Masaku sheltered to avoid being drenched by the rains but when the storm subsided, he revisited the scene and realised that the hide had not been touched by the rain. He also discovered that although very supple pegs had been used, they had penetrated the rock on which it was spread.

"This is how Masaku realised his powers would be inherited by Ingangu, and there was no need to worry about an heir. I am a descendant of Masaku’s 12th wife and one of my sons has inherited these powers. He can foretell the future, Musau says.

Opinion is divided in Kamba land over how the legendary prophet related with the colonialists, with some criticising him for collaborating, to a point of his name being adopted and used to refer to Machakos. Musau says his great great grandfather never collaborated with the British, arguing that he was a victim as his vast land was snatched and a fort constructed on it, while he was confined to the neighbouring Iveti Hill. He explains that previously, pioneer Imperial British East Africa company officials had requested Masaku to allow one of his sons to go and live with them down at the site where a fort was later constructed by John Ainsworth.

Another elder, Danson Mwema, says the legendary seer hailed from Atangwa clan, known for its military prowess and that he made Kamba land ungovernable. Mwema and Musau agree that Masaku was banished from his land where the colonial authorities later established a fort and an administrative centre, driving him to Iveti hill.

At around 1890, Masaku directed his son, Mua to go and live with a missionary, locally known as Nzeuni and later brought the white men atop Kiima Kimwe to meet the grand old prophet. "Masaku used to cultivate all the land where Machakos town is today. He had erected a watch tower for guards who chased monkeys and birds from his millet and sorghum fields," Musau says.

Denis Katia offers a differing explanation of Masaku’s rise to power, claiming he was a beneficiary of the tribulations of Ndonye wa Kauti, who violently resisted the British and was incarcerated.

Epic journey

"Ndonye fought the whites and was later jailed. It was during his incarceration that the whites warmed up to Masaku, referring to him as the supreme Kamba leader," Katia says. When Masaku’s end neared he embarked on an epic journey that is retold to awed ancestors more than a century later.

"Masaku called one of wives and announced he was embarking on a three-day-journey. He instructed her to prepare him enough supplies of food and snuff to last him that long," Musau recounts.

Grasping his spear in one hand, a bag with his slang behind his back, Masaku sat on his stool and rode on a cloud to what his kinsmen believe to be heaven. After three days, Masaku returned amidst heavy rains, to the delight of his followers who had been complaining about the prolonged drought that had already taken its toll on the people.

But like a doctor who could not heal himself, Masaku, the custodian of Akamba traditions violated the very covenant whose strict adherence he was supposed to enforce and paid the ultimate price.

Musau explains that other prophets like Syokimau and Mwatu wa Ngoma had warned Masaku never to venture in Kangundo or engage in any warfare against the neighbouring Maasai. "However, when some of his livestock was stolen, against earlier warnings, he pursued the raiders to Kangundo. At the time he was very old and was inevitably defeated by the Maasai raiders although his life was spared," Musau adds."

Smarting from the humiliation and uncertain about his supernatural powers, Masaku retreated to Iveti hills to lick his wounds and quietly faded away. By a strange twist of fate, Masaku died at Iveti (women) Hills, named after Syokimau, according to some traditionalists, which was away from his home in Kiima Kiimwe.

Another fashion championed by a different school led by Katia claim that Iveti Hills derived its name from the days of the Kamba-Maasai cattle raids during which intense battles were fought in Machakos. Explains Katia. "It was customary that during such battles women and children would be hidden behind the Iveti hill, while warriors faced off at the basin which is today Machakos town."

The circumstances following his death are as controversial as the rest of his life, with some like Mwema talking of a big storm on the day he died in 1895, followed by more bizarre occurrence.

Strong curse

Mwema claims, "The following day raging floods cascaded down the hill where he had been interred a few hours earlier. His remains were swept away and some residents swore seeing the prophet clinging to the horns of a bull that was swimming against the current."

Musau however insists that, nothing could be further from the truth, exclaiming; "This is just a myth. A select group of his descendants know his exact burial place at Kiima Kimwe. Showing it to you or another stranger would evoke a strong curse for Masaku prohibited it."

Despite the controversies, the Akamba; universally agree that Masaku existed and possessed some powers, which were later inherited by some of his famous descendants, including Paul Ngei who was the undisputed community leader for the larger part of his life until he died in 2004.

Masaku’s name, just like Machakos’ will never fade from the people’s memories now that it is likely to host Africa’s first techno-city, Konza, reviving the spirit of Machakos when it was the toast of the entire East Africa as the first interior administration centre, away from Mombasa.

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