Karamoja’s Sweet Rape

Forget that talk about cows, cows, cows, cows. It is women that the Karimojong love. And just like Eve caused havoc when she enticed Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, it is the love of women that has caused mayhem in the land of Karamoja. Mzee Longol, an elder, smirks at the Government’s disarmament programme, saying: “Yes, the Karimojong will be disarmed, but cattle rustling will never stop, unless a woman ceases to exist.”
In a nutshell, the Karimojong have rustled cattle since time immemorial so as to buy women. In Karamoja, a woman is highly valued, because she defines who a man really is. The highest bid a man can offer for a woman is 120 heads of cattle and unspecified number of goats and sheep.
This figure is exorbitantly high for a 16-year-old suitor, hence, the use of an AK47 to secure animals from neighbouring tribes to pay for a virgin. To many a ruthless father, the highest bidder takes the virgin.
Romance is not part of the lingua franca in this land. This is a luxury that exists beyond the borders of Karamoja. To court a woman, a Karimojong man begins by adopting animal language of mounting a woman without prior notice. Unless rape is effected and virginity lost, the girl remains at large. The suitor works with a team who spy on the virgin, to monitor her movements.
Sometimes, she is waylaid when she is collecting firewood, watering the animals or in the garden, and taken to an isolated place where the suitor rapes her. After conquering her, the suitor keeps her in captivity for about a week in a smoky kitchen, so that she becomes teary-eyed under his mercy.



After the rape, the other virgins do not associate with the ‘rape victim’ freely. They expect her to enter the courtship phase, which could last up to five years. If she abandons her suitor, she will be called a prostitute. Therefore, she has no choice but to continue with the process of courtship.
It is during this time, that the suitor makes his initial visit to the father of the bride, because he knows the ball is in his court. In a mock quarrel, the two speak:
‘I have come for my woman?’ demands the suitor.
‘We don’t know where she is, in fact, we have been searching for her in the wilderness!’ the father bellows out.
The suitor looks for a weak point for bargaining, before the topic of settling the bride price is introduced. From this day on, the groom must be seen to lure his bride in front of her parents, in order to keep them abreast with his serious intentions of marriage.
Therefore, a suitor may choose to pay ekicul (stake dowry) comprising a bull, a cow and 30 goats, then settle the bride price when children have grown up.
However, this is tricky, since this is the time, that a powerful rival could offer a higher price, and run away with the bride. A rival seeing the suitors daughters growing will marry off his bride and children knowing his animals will be recovered in a short time.
Not paying bride price also sets a bad precedent for her daughters and blocks the suitor’s young brothers from getting married. It is widely believed, the elder son holds all parental powers, and has to conclude the courtship process, before his brothers can marry.
In the land of Karamoja, “The jungle law does not permit marriage without engagement,” says Solomon Koriang. And not an engagement ring. The first question the girl’s relatives will ask her mother is: “Atingit monoa?” (Was he really engaging her?) If so, the next question will be, “Alikitoe mono kewatar ngitunga lu?” (under which tree were they seen?)
Should the mother deny seeing the two near her homestead, then the suitor is mercilessly beaten. The girl’s mother is usually the only accomplice to the rape. It is common for mothers to betray their daughter by leading the suitor of her choice to where her daughter sleeps, after keeping a night vigil to confirm the father is asleep.
If the girl is aware of her mother’s connivance with her suitor, she will seek protection from her father. Getting her from her father is like passing through an eye of the needle. She will be put under 24-hour surveillance, shifted to another hut to share a bed with her grandmother and when she lets off an alarm, her father will emerge charging like a lioness pouncing to rescue its cub.
Death is the penalty of such a suitor, once caught by a father. His life is only spared, if he is found with a sound ancestral track record and possession of large herd of cattle. John Locoro who is inseparable from his portable radio says: “The chase continues until the girl conceives, then her father will separate her from other girls by setting up a hut where the boy can tip toe every night.” In other words, there is no place for childless women among the Karimojong.
For the Karimojong, passion sets in the subsequent nights after the rape. The lovebirds are usually so engrossed in lovemaking that they do not notice the arrival of daybreak.
“Should daybreak get you inside, silently remain there, until everyone else has left the home,” advises Locoro.
“My father-in-law almost killed me,” recalls John Mark Lokiru, a teacher. “I was inside with the girl then I heard him singing from outside. Fortunately, her mother was a friend. She noticed the bicycle I left outside would betray me, so she threw it over the thorny fence. It acted as my ladder for my get-away. I rode the bicycle for kilometres, while my father-in-law chased after me.”
The running game comes to pass, when the suitor eventually introduces himself. At the introduction, the suitor is not accompanied by peers and he is his own spokesman. He wears a small pure white ostrich feather on his head and carries a straight long stick which will be used to point at animals during payment. He does not carry along his traditional stool and wears no sandals. It is the bride who later brings out his sandals and lays down a goatskin for him to sit on.
Like other cultures, Karimojong suitors appeal to friends for assistance using the phrase “Abwanga adere,” (the calabash has broken). This expression means the bride has conceived, I appeal for your help. Relatives will demand to know the groom's ancestral background, to find out if it is associated with witchcraft. If a setback is discovered, the response is:, “Eyenai,” (we’re relatives). However, if its all well, a sarcastic question is raised: “Eyai mono idio kale nateker ngina?” (Is there any animal in that family anyway?)
Because of the untold suffering and frustration caused by famine, most men fail to turn up for the last gate-closing ritual called, Lokuii by the girl's family after time elapse to heal relations and bless a new family. A bull is killed, and its fore limbs given to the suitor's mother and one side of the hide, which she uses a sleeping mat.
Instead of a wedding band, copper wires are put on that bride’s neck on top of the plastic ring of beads that she has worn as a virgin. Because of the weight of the beads, most Karimojong women seem like they have stiff necks.
A married woman, according to Luke Lokiru Ekatukon, is not to be touched by another man. The penalty of that crime is death. To cleanse such an offender, a bull must be killed. The penalty for adultery is death. The aggressor is a misfit in society, whose acts haunt him and bring death to the grieved family the woman is married to.
Unless the aggressor, identified early enough, “All those who will go for raids with him will all be killed beginning with the husband of that woman but for him he will survive unless he is made to lead the way, he gets killed then the rest will stay safe,” Ekatukon says.
The same omen stretches to hunting, brewing and to the newly born. Beer turns black, if an adulterer gets close to it and the baby will die unless a ram is killed, its offals wrapped round the aggressor and the woman, as well as having the baby smeared with the soil from his footprints. Ends