Mbangara Lullaby: How alcoholism is tearing apart families in Taita Taveta

In the lush hills of Taita, what began as a quiet concern has erupted into a full-blown cultural battle. At the centre is a perception - albeit without empirical evidence - that an increasing number of Taita girls are being married by "outsiders", leaving local men disgruntled.

The debate was reignited in June when Taita-Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime lamented in a viral video that while outsiders were marrying "beautiful and submissive" Taita girls, local men were left with "short and quarrelsome" ones.

"We are seeing people coming, marrying our very beautiful girls, and leaving short ones for us. Who said the short are not beautiful and are quarrelsome?" asked Mwadime in a viral clip.

The remarks, intended partly in jest, sparked outrage and raised questions about gender roles, cultural identity and the region's social struggles.

Soon social media was ablaze after lawyer Miguna Miguna raised a similar question - why so many Luo men were marrying outsiders, particularly Taita women, rather than their own.

Examples abound. Kisumu Governor Prof Anyang' Nyong'o's wife, Dorothy, the mother of Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o, hails from Taita. Langata MP Felix Odiwour, popularly known as Jalang'o, has often declared with pride that his wife is also from the verdant hills of Taita Taveta.

But the conflict over the soul of Taita runs deeper than questions of beauty, obedience or culinary skills. Beneath it lie structural challenges eroding culture and community.

Foremost among them is the scourge of alcoholism. Tales of heavy drinking among Taita men dating back to the pre-colonial period abound.

"Taitas are very obedient people, but their only problem is excessive love for alcohol," one colonial officer once remarked. The comment became folklore, retold in drinking dens across the county.

The late Justice Msagha Mbogholi, himself a son of Taita, concurred that the description remains apt. He recalled how, even decades later, alcohol continued to render many men unproductive and absent from development pursuits.

"Many Taita men cannot effectively participate in any meaningful development pursuit, as they have been rendered unproductive by excessive drinking," said Mbogholi.

The first known academic study of Taita drinking patterns was carried out in 1907 by a European scholar, who concluded alcoholism was an obsession among Taita men.

Jokes are still told of how Taita delegations to State House, Mombasa, to air their issues to President Jomo Kenyatta ended in futility once leaders succumbed to free drinks, forgetting their mission.

The problem persists decades later. Local leaders blame alcoholism for impotence, divorce, poverty, crime, rape, defilement, and incest in the community.

Mbangara lullaby

Taita Taveta County Commissioner Josephine Onunga blames cheap traditional brews like Mbangara and Chang'aa for the socio-economic crossroads Taita Taveta finds itself in.

As one walks in remote villages, scenes of drunk men sleeping on the wayside are common. The trail of destruction and poverty left behind by alcoholism is evident.

Addicts say the Mbangara, a local drink, is 'a lullaby' that enables them to fall asleep at night. Others call it a key to "a morning lock".

Most, including addicts, religious and political elders and security agents, however, concur that the liquor has left a trail of miseries, broken homes and deaths.

In 2006, eight members of the one family perished after drinking what police said was a poisoned brew in Sagala, Voi, in Taita Taveta.

Persistent police raids in the dens where locals flock for their tipple have not helped much, as the vice continues to get worse by the day.

The police complain that their operations always meet resistance from the politicians. In May, the Taita Taveta County Assembly passed a motion to legalise the sale of the Mbangara.

"Our men wake up in the morning to go to drink, saying they want to unlock (sic). They return at lunchtime to sleep before going back to drink again, saying they cannot sleep without it," said Silviah Kadenga.

She added: "Some of the local men are lazy slobs who prefer spending the whole day idling around brew dens instead of working."

Security agents say some illicit brews sold in the area are cocktails of all manner of ingredients to accelerate the fermentation process and increase their potency.

Recently, women leaders held protests in Taita, lamenting how alcoholism had led to a drop in birth rate and fertility per family, poor education standards and slow development.

Police are are also struggling to stop second-generation and traditional brews from Tanzania. Taita Taveta lies along the porous border that has gained notoriety as the transit route for illegal ethanol.

In a recent incidents, a retired civil servant attempted to commit suicide after losing Sh20,000, his pension, while drinking in Wundanyi Town.

Human rights groups say alcoholism has significant links to marital instability, family breakdown, and rising gender-based violence (GBV).

Woman Rep Lydia Haika says there is a direct correlation between the loss of moral values and GBVs in Taita Taveta County.

At a recent forum the legislator chaired at Werugha Social, poor communication skills among young men were blamed for the rising cases of GBVs.

In a forum organised by Haika, girls lamented that the majority of the young men were unable to adequately express themselves while seducing women, with some of them resorting to rape, defilement, incest, sodomy and even femicide.

Haika has enlisted the help of other Woman Reps in the battle against cases of GBV, incest, rape, and femicide in the county under her Wezesha Mama campaign.

Data indicate that in the last year, Taita Taveta reported a total of 157 cases of GBV. Recently, a Standard Six pupil was defiled and murdered in cold blood in Taita Sub-County.

According to the police, the victim was defiled and murdered on June 8, 2025 and her body thrown in a fish pond at Kese village in Taita Sub-County, in an apparent attempt to disguise the crime as drowning.

Kwale County Woman Rep Fatuma Masito and her Baringo counterpart Flowrence Jematiah, called for severe penalties against men preying on girls.

"Why are grown-up men preying on minors instead of coming to us?" posed Masito, the ODM legislator.

Jematiah said drugs were to blame for the rising cases of GBVs.

The fight back

Governor Mwadime, ACK Diocese Bishop Liverson Mng'onda, and other leaders have intensified campaigns to preserve and protect the fast-disappearing traditional culture with the aim of unifying the local community and stemming vices.

In his sermon in the local dialect titled "Faith as a pillar of unity in Taita Taveta development," Reverend Mng'onda noted that the Taita language is facing extinction.

He said every effort must be made to revive and strengthen the Taita culture for the benefit of future generations.

"We need to preserve our culture and traditions and document them for the benefit of future generations. The preservation of the Taita and Taveta cultures and traditions will serve to restore the dignity and well-being of the community," he said.

Former Diocese Bishop Dr Samson Mwaluda remembers the rich Taita Taveta culture, songs, dances and delicacies with nostalgia.

He says these traditional norms, songs and dances that prepared the youth in the Taita tribe in Taita Taveta County are fast fading away thanks to modernity and alcoholism.

In the past, the Taitas had many interesting forms of traditional dance, the most fascinating of which was the pepo spirit-possession dance called 'Mwazindika'.

In the dance, a group of dancers takes to the stage with gusto to shake to the melodious and powerful rhythm of the drums.

As the dance reaches a crescendo, a woman falls as if she is possessed by spirits, an act locally known as Saka ya Nyonyi. Other dancers sprinkle water on her to 'recover'.

The Taita traditional dances and songs were performed for specific purposes, and they shaped the culture and behaviour of its people, especially the youth.

"Dances were intricately interwoven into the social fabric as a preserver and transmitter of the local culture that has been passed from one generation to the other," said Douglas Madeda, the Taita Taveta Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) chairperson.

He added: "Our responsibility as professionals is to sensitise the community on the need to preserve cultural values for the benefit of the future generations because culture has for a long time been used as a powerful tool for instruction, education, and preparation of the young for adult roles."

Though traditional dances and songs are waning in popularity owing to cultural erosion and religion, they are still performed in Mwanda, Mbololo and Kasigau.

Members of the Taita community are talented musicians. Among prominent Taita musicians are Freshley Mwamburi (of the Stella fame), Sammy Mwambi and Habel Kifoto (deceased).

Taita secrets

Elders say traditional dances give meaning to the stages of life and communicate status transformation in the community.

"There is moral decay in family units, and parents have abdicated their parental roles of guiding and counselling their children on good moral values," says Stephen Salake, a youth leader in the region.

Livingston Mwanyama, a secondary school teacher, says they are conducting sensitisation forums to ensure that the local community speak in one voice and protect the Taitas' secrets.

"We want to ensure that the local community is united and does not reveal (Wakitinas) indigenous secrets to unauthorised people," he said.

Mwanyama says they are encouraging locals to enhance agricultural production to fight food insecurity, reduced income and the dependency syndrome.

As efforts to preserve and strengthen cultural values intensify, widespread sale and consumption of illicit brews and drugs, including "alien" stimulant plants like miraa and muguka, continue to thrive in the region.