The New Vision

The Kumam

Publication date: Sunday, 22nd January, 2006

An Ateso dancer. The Kumam have a slower dance than the Iteso

Because they are such a small tribe, only 161,601 according to the 2002 census report, many people will usually lump the Kumam together with the Iteso or do not know about them altogether.

Currently they are mostly found in Kaberamaido, parts of Soroti and Kioga County in Lira. They have long been held to be different from the Iteso given their Luo-like tongue, while at the same time being one with them given their similar culture. But because language is usually the first outward expression of one’s identity, the Kumam can claim their place among the individual tribes in Uganda.

In order to understand the Kumam properly, it is important to look at the migratory history of the people known as the Plain Nilotes or Nilo-Hamites from whom the Kumam, the Iteso, Karimojong and the Langi are said to have descended.

Migratory history
The Kumam are said to have come into Uganda around AD 1600 together with the Ateso speakers who are believed to have originated from the northeast in the direction of Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia). They came down through Lake Rudolf (Turkana) and Mt. Moroto and met Luo-speaking people around Mt. Otukei who were also migrating from the north.
This interaction gave birth to the Langi and Kumam who adapted the Luo language. While the Langi became more identical with the Luo, the Kumam retained at least a third of their original Ateso speech.

Some legends support this account. There is talk of a boy who stole a headdress and fled with it. His descendants were called Ikokolemo, another name for the Kumam (ikoku is Ateso for child and elem is headdress in luo). This compound word is an indication of the integration that had taken place.

Another legend says that the Turkana group that remained at L. Rudolph named all their kinsmen who continued westwards the ‘Kumama’ after the word for white ants that they preferred to pursue. In line with this, tribes like the Karimojong and others as far as Bugisu, Bugwere and western Kenya used to refer to even the Iteso and Langi as ‘Kumama’. The word Kumam is also claimed to come from a Langi word Akum, to refer to all the people of the former Teso district.

Another longstanding name that spans across all the Nilo-Hamitic tribes in Uganda and Kenya is the stem word ‘Lango’ still in use today, even for tribes of the same ancestry in western Kenya.
The separate word for the Ateso is said to have developed later as one group moved further south, against the advice of the older folk “who got tired” (akarim ajong) and chose to stay in Karamoja. They were told that to continue was to head to their graves, or ‘Atesia’ and the name stuck.

According to the second edition of the book Kumam Ikare Me Asonya (Kumam in the Olden Days) the first administrative post for the British protectorate government in Teso was at Bululu in 1908 where they raised the flag. Then it was moved to Lango and it fell under that leadership but later the Kumam agitated to be moved back to Teso because they were different from the Langi.

District sources indicate that Kaberamaido was granted sub-district status in 1970 by then president Idi Amin but some elders who preferred to be identified with Soroti district rebuffed the idea.

Over the years there have been good relations between the Iteso and Kumam but some people said they were being segregated against when they were all under Soroti district, where the Iteso are a majority.

But others argue that it was only politicians spreading such sentiments for their own ends because with a new district more political posts would be created.

“In all of our history, there is no record of conflict between the Iteso and the Kumam,” says Source Opak, the minister of information in the Teso cultural institution. Charles Oyugi Emunyu, the chairperson of the Kumam Elders’ Forum, agrees but adds that the need for a district was always recognised.

Kaberamaido district, west of Soroti was finally formed in July 2001. However, some of the political tensions carried over to Kaberamaido, especially regarding language because although approximately 65% of the population are Kumam, sub-counties like Otuboi and Anyara are still largely Ateso-speaking. Nevertheless, gaining a district has spurred on desires for a separate cultural institution and leadership.

Language, culture and social structure
The Kumam share cultural practices and norms with the other Nilo-Hamitic groups but the language is a blend of Ateso and Luo (about 30%-50% respectively). Since language is a dynamic system of communication it keeps evolving as the speakers change and this is demonstrated in the case of Kumam. The language has approximately 81% lexical similarity with Langi, which has become more of a Luo tongue. But culturally there is little connection between the Kumam and Lango.

While recognising the cultural similarity between them, most Iteso say they cannot comprehend Kumam language and the same goes for most Kumam.

Only those who have lived together with members of the other group, like in parts of Soroti County, can speak or comprehend the other’s language. Many Kumam have by necessity learnt to speak Ateso because for many years it was the vernacular language of instruction in schools in the Teso region.

The Kumam and Iteso also have the same nine stem clans although hundreds of small breakaway tribes exist. There are slight differences in the names, but they are believed to be the same clans. Some examples include Ikarebok and Ikatekok for the Iteso as Ikareok and Atek are for the Kumam respectively.

Music is another vehicle through which a people’s culture unfolds and between the Iteso and Kumam the music sounds the same. The traditional music based on the various combinations of thumb piano, lute, flutes and other instruments is called Akembe by the Kumam and Akogo by the Iteso. But the music sounds the same, save for the fact that words are in different tongues.

“But I am convinced that the Kumam have a slower dance than the Iteso and when we dance we do not jump the way they do,” argues Albert Elyesu of Achan Pi Moto Moto jazz band from Kaberamaido.

Currently it is hard to distinguish the Kumam by looking at the names like it is for most people in Uganda. Once it could be easily guessed from some common names that one was Kumam.

Boys’ names starting with letter ‘E’ and ending with ‘U’ and girls’ names starting with ‘A’ and ending with ‘O’ were distinctly not Iteso. But over the years the once clear lines have become hazy.

Still, one wonders whether language is a factor strong enough to cause a rift between two groups. The defence is that language is the consciousness of the people that defines them. It is so sacred that by adapting a new tongue it is only a matter of time before the rift is inevitably created. The Kumam referred to Ateso speakers as JoDum from a word that means “those whose language we don’t understand”. But if they were totally different then it would not have been so specified that only language separates them.

“We are all Iteso and the Emorimor is our leader,” says Peter Edeku from Olele village in Kaberamaido. Even if he does not speak a word of Ateso, he is comfortable with the status quo.
The fact that the Annual Teso Cultural Gala is still enthusiastically patronised by Kumam groups who travel from Kaberamaido for the event is evidence of their cordial relations.

Nonetheless the Elders’ Forum is looking at possibilities of having a cultural leader, separate from the Emorimor of Teso under whom they currently fall. “We should not be misunderstood to be Iteso because of sharing the same region. What we need is recognition and an identity so we can unearth the wisdom of the Kumam,” stresses Emunyu, “we are already a tribe recognised by the Constitution and you can’t stop that. Knowledge is hidden within a language and we have to unearth it. We need a proper representative to cater for our common interests.”

He says the committee is still meeting over this but a proposed title for the leader would be “His Highness Moru Kumam” or “Okumemo”.

One strategy was the publication of Kumam Ikare Me Asonya, a history in their own tongue and plans are underway to translate it into English.
This will make it possible for both the Kumam and other people to understand them better.

Another approach is to create a standard orthography of the language, a procedure that started about two years ago. Parts of the Bible have been translated and are already in use. It seems that where some languages are dimming, Kumam is in full bloom.

This article can be found on-line at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/299/310/476977