Home National News Anzauni Clan Kingpin Dr Kyalo Muli Petitions for Reviving Akamba Traditional Brews

Anzauni Clan Kingpin Dr Kyalo Muli Petitions for Reviving Akamba Traditional Brews

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Dr. Kyalo Muli, the Anzauni Clan Kingpin and founder of Kyalo Kya Maendeo, filed a petition on April 11th at the High Court of Kitui to revive the traditional Akamba brews, Kaluvu and Mawa.

Addressing Hopkindigital.com outside Kitui Law court precincts, Dr Muli emphasized that Kaluvu, also called kimee and Mawa are made naturally, without any additives hence demanding grounds that they are illicit and do not conform to the Alcoholic Drink Control Act.

According to a Research study by the Faculty of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi published in the East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol. 1 No. 3, 1998 established that traditional alcoholic drinks such as ‘mawa’ and ‘kaluvu’ have no health implications and such the Akamba People should be allowed to continue brewing them as part of their cultural drinks.

Under the Akamba people there are two catergories of traditional alcoholic beverages namely ‘mawa’ and ‘kaluvu’. Made from sugar cane juice, fermented millet, Mwaatine, honey and water, the drinks were used by the Akamba people during socio-cultural ceremonies such as rites of passage, reconciliations, dances, births, marriages, burials, and funeral celebrations, welcoming a guest, sealing a contract, agricultural cooperatives, thatching a roof, domestic construction projects (barn raising), discussions between village elders, social gatherings at home and the market.

Kaluvu plays an important role in the social and cultural traditions of the Akamba community.

Traditionally, Kaluvu and Mawa was never drunk without a purpose. It was commonly brewed for special occasions and communal ceremonies.

Young men and women were not allowed to partake of the drink until they reached the appropriate age, which was when they were marrying off their eldest child.

The drinks was also used in blessing rituals and during the ceremony, the elder leading the ceremony pours some of it to the ground in honour of the ancestors, spitting some on his chest and hands to bless himself and the labour of his hands, before uttering words of blessings.

TAKE NOTICE that the above petition shall be coming up for mention directions on 28th May 2024 at high court of Kitui law courts.

This initiative comes on the heels of a landmark ruling by a Kiambu Court on 24th February 2024, which acknowledged the cultural significance of the Kikuyu traditional brew, Muratina, and affirmed its legality. High Court Judge Abigail Mshila’s decision not only upholds the cultural values and practices of indigenous communities but also paves the way for potential acceptance of Kaluvu within the Kamba traditions.

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