- Ganze subcounty chiefs’ welfare chairman Stephen Thethe said chiefs are now regarded as snitches in their areas.
- Thethe said residents have ganged up against chiefs to the extent their microphones are switched off whenever they are addressing a gathering.
Image: ELIAS YAA
Some chiefs in Ganze subcounty are living in fear of being attacked over their hard stand on the disco Matanga ban.
The administrators blame the police for exposing them to the public.
Ganze subcounty chiefs’ welfare chairman Stephen Thethe said chiefs are now regarded as snitches in their areas.
“The government imposed a ban on disco Matanga some years back. As chiefs we know the problems disco Matanga has caused in our areas. This is a menace that as a community we must work to address,” Thethe said.
Thethe, who is the Mitangani area chief, said residents have ganged up against chiefs to the extent their microphones are switched off whenever they are addressing a gathering.
“Apart from being administrators, chiefs are also members of the community. Whenever we go to burials and it is our time to address the mourners, the person managing the public address system switches off the microphone and accuses us of being traitors,” he said.
The administrator said whenever chiefs learn of any homestead where the disco Matanga will be played, they inform the police who are supposed to enforce the ban by making sure the equipment is confiscated before it is assembled.
“The sad thing is that when the police get to the homestead, they tell the mourners that they had no plan to stop them but they were told to do so by the area chief. This has created a tiff between us and residents. We fear for our lives now,” Thethe added.
He said in areas where the ban is effectively implemented, defilement cases have gone down.
“In Mitangani, we have recorded only two cases of defilement. This is because the community here has seen the negative effects of disco Matanga and decided only to play it during the day. During the night they will only use the generator to provide light,” he said.
He also blamed senior government officials from the area for blocking police officers from stopping disco matangas in their homes.
Ganze subcounty police commander Paul Otieno refuted the claim and urged chiefs to follow the right protocol.
Otieno said police in Ganze are enforcing the order whenever they are informed.
“We agreed with the DCC that every Thursday chiefs should inform the area Assistant County Commissioner whenever there is a homestead they suspect disco Matanga will be played. After they report, the ward security team will visit the homestead and tell them not to play the disco during the night,” he said.
He said some people would agree that they will not play but after the police leave, they wait until late in the night then they start playing.
The police boss further said some chiefs have a tendency of reporting when the disco is already playing.
“Sometimes we look at the strength of the people at the disco and the police. If we cannot match them then we wait until the wee hours of the morning for us to confiscate the equipment,” he added.
He said the trend has reduced drastically.
He warned chiefs that they would take responsibility whenever they report late, adding that the disco is only allowed during the day.
Thethe said disco matanga has negated the education of the girl child as most of them do not go back to school after getting pregnant.
Two years ago, during the height of the ban on disco Matanga, a chief in Kaloleni subcounty was hit with a stone while on his motorbike after attending a burial.