So this past week or so, Kenyan interwebs have been awash with accusations and counter accusations over the intimate goings-on of a certain boys club. From the fallout, it’s clear the Bro Code was broken. Everything painfully built between these men thrown into full disarray. As a result, lives and livelihoods have been destroyed. It wasn’t any different for the Luhya traditional boys club: the age set. And that’s where the similarities end.
A full bloodied omundu strong is known cardinally in three ways. First, by way of his people; meaning his father’s clan or his father’s name. Such as saying Omuengele in reference to Omwami Micheal Kijana Wamalwa. Or Wakoli okhwa Mukisu when talking of Wakoli the Bukusu freedom fighter son of Mukisu.
Second, is by his mother’s name. In the way Omwami Musikari Kombo is Musikari WaNasipwondi or Kutalang’i Masinde Muliro answered to the name Muliro WaMakinia. Another famous example is ‘mwana wa Hanna’ in reference to the ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi. By this way, it is also not uncommon to come across a fully grown circumcised so-and-so referring to himself as omusinde wa Nanjala; meaning so-and-so the uncircumcised son of Nanjala.
Third, is by the age-set he’s circumcised into.
While the first two give a Luhya man an identity, it’s the latter that gives him a life. This is because once circumcised, a Luhya man becomes a member of an age-set for life. This membership binds him to a code. “A man gotta have a code,” said Omar little. Learn the universal code, the Bro Code, othe laws of the Luhya traditional boys club.
1
Members of your Luhya traditional boys club are or were the last people/men to see your nakedness/ manhood
Most of the 18 houses of mulembe might have moved on from the vividness of the Luhya traditional circumcision, but the few who still perform this rite of passage ol’school serve an apt reminder of how it used to be.
For those of us yet to witness this act of courage, of note: In the lead up to the cut that takes place in public, the nudity of the initiate is a public affair. Full frontal it is.
Thereafter as the initiates recuperate, for obvious reasons, the dressing is minimal as it is loose. But once one under goes the final counseling lesson that the Bukusu call khutiukha, that’s it.
Just not to far ago, nudes of an elected official from a county in Western Kenya surfaced online. While the poor soul battled to save face, he additionally had to contend with the ominous task of mending fences with members of his Luhya traditional boys club.
His ageset mates rightfully demanded that he slaughters a sheep for he was guilty of breaking their Bro Code two ways. First, by his nudity being there for the world to see, he had inadvertently exposed their nudity too. Second it was for making them see his nether regions in contravention of the rules they were to live by.
2
Members of an age set can share anything in this world, except for the sweetness of a woman, at least not knowingly
In the leaked WhatsApp conversations of the aforementioned boys clubs whose breakdown of the code went viral in Kenya, it’s said that there was talk of women or a woman playing between the sheets in some sort of round robin game with the lads. It was the wisdom of our forebearers that such debauchery isn’t allowed among members of an age set.
3
Members of the traditional Luhya boys club can’t witness each other’s burial
They can and will do all that pertains giving their bro a good send off, except witnessing their age set body being lowered into the grave. This is because the bond they formed when they poured blood and through out life is considered so strong. They’ve become like siamese twins with cryptic connections.
4
Expanding the brotherhood of the age set through mutual respect
By extension, the age-set that one belongs to is also that of your wife. Thus among the Bukusu, for instance, it’s common for wives of a particular age set to refer to each other as bakoki; meaning, one of my age set or one who we circumcised together. In Lulogooli this becomes balongo, which also is the name given to a first twin.
5
Lubaka, the debt
This in particular is common among the Bukusu. Lubaka is a debt, more of a way to congratulate your bro for attaining an important milestone, that is payable when the son of one of your age set mates gets circumcised.
In Bukusu culture, one cannot assume certain community roles such as being a mukhebi when they themselves have not circumcised a son. They cannot theoretically also assume positions of leadership.
