Ex-TLB boss Ole Kamwaro gets heroic Maasai send-off

Hassan ole Kamwaro during an interview at his office in Nairobi in November 2013. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Kamwaro, who was also the national organising secretary of the Maasai Council of Elders died of cancer last month.

  • He died aged 75 in Oklahoma, USA, where he had been undergoing treatment at the Mercy Oncology Centre for the last six months.
  • His body was flown into the country last week for burial.

The former Transport and Licensing Board chairman Hassan Ole Kamwaro, who died last month, will be granted a final send-off ceremony befitting a Maasai elder.

The send-off will include a ritual where elders from the community will perform a final traditional cleansing of the family Friday ahead of his burial on Saturday.

FINAL RITUAL

The elders from his age set ‘Isieuri’ will slaughter a bull for the ritual at the late politician’s Eor Enkitok home in Narok. The ritual holds great traditional significance among the Maasai.

Kamwaro, who was also the national organising secretary of the Maasai Council of Elders died of cancer last month.

He died aged 75 in Oklahoma, USA, where he had been undergoing treatment at the Mercy Oncology Centre for the last six months.

His body was flown into the country last week for burial.

To give him a heroic send-off a bull—considered to be special—was chosen by elders of repute from his clan to mark the start of the burial ceremony activities.

Fat extracted from the bull after cooking its meat will be applied on his body by his sons shortly before his burial.

The meat from the special bull is roasted at Ole Kamwaro's farm in Eorr Enkitok on Friday September 27, 2019. PHOTO | GEORGE SAYAGIE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Joseph ole Karia, a Maasai elder, told Nation that a castrated with a uniform colour was picked from the family herd for slaughter an indicating that the head of the family has passed on.

“All the meat will be roasted on an open fire. The pieces of meat from the right side of the bull will be served to members of his nuclear family, beginning with the sons, the daughters and lastly mother," Mr Karia said.

Fat extracted from the bull after cooking its meat will be applied on his body by his sons shortly before his burial. PHOTO | GEORGE SAYAGIE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

He added that, "None of the mourners is allowed to eat the meat until the family is full."

He said the ritual is a cleansing ceremony for the family and traditional send-off to a head of the family and is observed so that the dead man does not leave any bad omen to the family.

The same ritual was done during the burial of former Cabinet minister William Ole Ntimama.

When a prominent Maasai man, who practices Christianity dies, the fat from the bull is usually not smeared on his body but on the sides of the coffin bearing his body.

After the burial, all the sons of the dead man are required to wear a special metal bracelet to indicate that they have lost their father.

Kamwaro's family spokesman Martine Kamwaro has said ODM leader Raila Odinga, Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Narok County governor and other local politicians are expected to attend the funeral.