CHAPTER TWO
The region has been led by several leaders but
the most prominent one was Lopejo. Lopejo was a
tall, energetic, handsome, black skinned, wise and
brave man. He had shanty, unkempt hair which
was as black as charcoal.
Apart from Lopejo, the region has also been led by
other leaders such as Saruni, Lorok and Lapuroni.
Saruni was said to have helped our community to
tender a large herd of cattle and flock of sheep
during his reign. He was a man of principles and
was ready to listen to any one. But this!!!!! The
animals became fewer once a great drought enveloped the vicinity.
The drought was severe that it made all the animals
that it made all the animals lay topsy-turvy; a scene
denoted from the looks of carcasses. Saruni was
now hated for people said he was a lummox and
had annoyed the ancestral spirits. Another claim
was that since he married from a neighboring
community, a social activity which was greatly
discouraged by our community proved that he was
putting too much food in the mouth than he could
chew.
Lorok was black as his name suggest. He was
different from Saruni in that he had many wives
which were from our community. Lorok had many
children such that it was difficult for him to master
all of them. He must have suffered a great loss
since any young man or lady would request the
father to child attention which he had no guts of
refusing. They would be enveloped under the
pretext that they were his children. However,
Lorok had to cope with all this since at times it was
unavoidable. It was too difficult to be easy for
Lorok to distinguish among his children.
Furthermore, this was directly counted as a
blessing from our creator.
He led the people to of our community in peace till
he joined his forefathers in their comfortable home
of no return. The other leader was Lapuroni. His
name means that he was a thief and that is why
not so many people liked him. In fact if research
were conducted it could only be shown that it was
his closest men who were always ready to support
him in exercising his ambitious, greedy corrupt
leadership.
He got the leadership ties through theft as it was
his younger brother who was supposed to be the
next ruler. He never had the lack of ruling people
for long like his predecessor prominent Lopejo.
Lapuroni would organize raids of cattle to the
nearby community who were less powerful. In so
doing, Lapuroni, made our community to have a
warlike tradition. Lapuroni was also a singer and a
harpist. During his leisure time, he would sing
many songs which were about war, love,
leadership and also the environment. These songs
were sung when the prescribed activity was taking
place. A song of war was always sang by Lapuroni had the following lines.
Come ------come ----- come,
Come --- come --- come my people, Let’s go defend our land.
Chorus,
you and I, are united by the fact, That we are all tribes mates.
Come,
Come my folks, let’s go and defend our land.
Please! Please! My commander,
Ensure that you are well equipped,
With deadly weapons from our kedong, Arsenal.
We must show them that we are, Brave than lions, and that they are, Cowards like hyenas.
Other songs such as love songs were sang when a woman was being led to the Altar. Leadership songs were sang when a new chief was being given the leadership position.
Lapuroni was hot tempered. When he was
furious, even his closest buddy would not try to
mollify him. Everybody knew the ultimate.
Tyrannical! One would be fined either a steer or
pay two ewe. Of course this was inhumane! He
would remain mute and dump as though he had
his nose cut and hen’s beak attached instead. His
commander was only allowed to be beg him to go
and be in the arms of Morpheus when time to rest
his body which now was increasing at an
astonishing volume arrived.
However making Lapuroni raise his back was as
difficult as having the Sahara desert reforested in a
single day. It would happen but only when
something very detesting happened. One fine
morning, as it is said, Lapuroni woke up and
organized a fight with the people from the east
who were a hostile desert tribe. People from the
east were tall, brown folks. People now started
hating him for organizing such raids when
everyone was busy concentrating on how best they
could increase the number of flocks.
In our community, one was actually recognized by
the number of animals he had. Everybody was
now asking the creator God to provide us with a
leader who would rule with justice and equality.
They anticipated him to never organize war with
any folks. Whenever elders would stand in a
gathering and give speech, it was always revered
and no one would turn his head away from their
sentiments. An old man who was wiser gathered
people one fine morning and told them that their
Lord Almighty, their sustainer and provider had
heard their prayers.
A young man, who would be their leader, is sent to
the people so as to rule them. This statement made
the people ears to be gravitated towards the old
man. He went further and noted that the man
would help them tend their livestock well an
increase them to a large number.
Activities such as cattle raiding would be counted
as useless activity. All were glad to hear his
gooey words that left everybody smiling happily
with a package of expectations. He added that the
young man would not need any grouchy person as
this would make him lose all his wisdom. He had to
be pious so as to make his entire dream come to
happen.
He was to have cavalry which was to defend the
region from external aggression and an infantry to
annihilate any rebellion that would arise in his
territorial boundary. Rebels who would refuse to
capitulate, once put behind the bars, would either
be killed or sold as slaves whichever the young
man would put across. The people came into a
conclusion that the description of the young man
was eligible. They summed up the gathering by
agreeing with the adage saying where there is a
will there is a way.
Watch out for part Three (Boniface MAIYANI)
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