Page 22 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 6
P. 22
TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE
officers. Once it was stolen, the ing and patronizing world view of colonial Britain. The issue with
Kidjo, a key ruling class of the this story that the items that were stolen from Afrika should be in a
Pokomo which had spiritual and foreign museum were many people can see them, is an insult to the
governing authority, lost their spirit of Africanism. The items of worship taken from Afrika are not
strength. Of course the British art objects or just carvings for fun; they were created as channels
use the euphemism ‘confiscat- through which men speak to divine beings. They were the medium
ed’ and say it was ‘donated’ of communication to God that was available to them before the
to its ‘collections’ in 1908, this coming of the colonialists. Meaning these artifacts are core integral
according to an article in the part of the spirituality of the Afrikan people, and a demeaning of
Washington Post in 2019. The their true essence is an insult not just to the community from where
Ngadji now sits, collecting dust they were stolen but to the entire Afrika.
in a store in the British Museum A hallmark of the sticky-fingered raiders of Afrika was the pilferage
in London, where it was seen in of objects that were of spiritual or social significance to the local
2016 by the brother to the cur- communities in a bid to create a form of psychological and spiritual
rent ruler of the Pokomo. The disruption in the social structures of those communities. By taking
Pokomo royalty was recently away something that was an anchor to a community, it was easier
re-established as they felt as a to fragment those with communal belief systems. These items end-
community they were not well ed up in museums and vaults in Europe and the former colonialists
represented by the national refuse to give them back.
government. The Pokomo have
demanded the return but the The Pokomo hope that the British will return their property and they
British for some reason think will hear the roar of the lion once more, its absence a constant
that it is their property… just like reminder of the violent disruption of their culture caused by colonial-
all the other items they stole ism. That drum, the ngadji, the source of power and pride for the
from Afrika and now conve- Pokomo, has been relegated to a storage room in the British Muse-
niently label, ‘artifacts’. They um in London for 111 years. The roar of the Lion will once again be
say the items they stole are heard in the community of the Pokomo people?
‘safest’ with them and where
‘most people’ can see them – a
continuation of the condescend-
The Pokomo council of elders, known as the kidjo. (Photo: The Washington Post website)
22 | heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika
