Luo clans have been challenged to document their heritage as part of the efforts to preserve their heritage.
According to the Siaya County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Tourism, Sports and Culture Ms. Angeline Oduor, such documentation would be used as reference point by the future generations and even historians.
She was speaking at Malunga Vocational Training Centre in Wagai sub county where she presided over the launch of a book, Kanyibuop ma ni e Kenya, (Kanyibuop in Kenya), which chronicles the origin and history of Kanyibuop clan that is mainly found in Gem constituency, Siaya.
Oduor said that the county government would work out modalities of marketing the book so that it could inspire other clans to emulate Jo Kanyibuop.
The patron of Kanyibuop clan Nelson Rogo and clan chairman Nyandat Orimba said the four-year project was mooted upon realization that those with the oral history of the clan, said to have been founded by a man of Lang’o origin who was adopted by the founder of the larger Gem clan, were dying.
Rogo said that the elders decided to put everything they knew in writing, adding that they have visited various parts of the country where their kinsmen were to collect the information captured in the book.
The book’s chief editor Richard K’odindo said that they have followed all the procedures of publishing while coming up with the book.
K’odindo said that the publication would also help strengthen the bond between clan members from far and wide.
By Philip Onyango
