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.
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.
An archival photo of the ngadji, and a few of @luistatophoto‘s, of the beautiful Tana River, the vice-chairman of the Pokomo traditional council, and boys playing hymns at a church. The Pokomo are now mostly Christian and Muslim. pic.twitter.com/02SfMqySrJ
— Max Bearak (@maxbearak) August 10, 2019
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.
“That drum, the ngadji, the source of power and pride for the Pokomo, has been relegated to a storage room in the British Museum in London for 111 years.”
— The African Blackwood (@arsenalcode) August 10, 2019
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.