Pokomo leaders ask the British authorities to return their stolen ‘god’

Photo: Pokomo community elders/courtesy

The Pokomo community has launched a mission to have their holy god which was stolen by the British colony returned.

The Pokomo who are based in Tana River county used to worship a god represented on Earth by an awe-inspiring drum. It stood taller than any man. Rubbing the cowhide stretched across its gigantic body, fashioned from a hollowed-out tree trunk, made a sound that could be heard throughout the villages clustered around the Pokomo king’s compound.

Image result for Pokomo's drum god
Photo: Pokomo elders/courtesy

The current Pokomo king and the descendant of a dynasty, His Majesty Makorani-a-Mungase VII, claims their god who was stolen was alive and forced everyone to listen.

“Our legend has it that it sounds like a lion’s roar,” said the King.

 

According to King Makorani, the British authority made away with their god who was named the ‘ngadji’ more than 111 years ago and relegated it to a storage room in the British Museum in London.

 

However the British authorities have acknowledged the fact that they confiscated the ngadji before being donated to its collections in 1908. The museum has received the request by Pokomo community but it has not yet considered returning their god.

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