Writes Leo Odera Omolo

AN incident, in which a young fisherman is said to have lost his upper and lower teeth, is still the common talks within the three lakeside districts of Nyatika, Gwasi and Mbita in the greater Southern Nyanza region.

Puzzled fishermen, fish traders and petty kiosk traders operating their businesses on the small Island of Ringiti have yet to come to term with the realities of what happened in the first week of August.

Ringit is asmally rocky fishing Island, which is located few kilometers of Mfangano Island in the Lake Victoria. It is one of those islands like Migingo, which Kenya and Ugandan governments are currently locked in dispute over their ownership.

Majority of fishermen and trader operating on this Island are Kenyans of Luos and Somali origins. Also, there are few Luhyia fishermen from Banyala sub-clanwho came from Sigulu Island formerly part of Kenya, but now on the Ugandan side of the Lake and also from Port Victoria I the mainland Budalangi constituency.

Like its sister Island Migingo, Ringiti is also housing Ugandans and Tanzanian fishermen and fish merchants.

It happened that an unfaithful married woman who is actively involved in fish trade, making her frequently traversing between Ringiti and Muhuru- Bay on the mainland Nyatike district. The woman who is called Adhiambo Sianda {Not her real name}had formed the habit of visiting the island for the purpose of purchasing fish from fishermen and then crossing the lake back to the mainland quite often. She could spend between four days or one week on the Island depending on the availability of fish. But all this time she used to be staying with relatives and friends.

But the woman who is said to be the third wife of a wealthy farmer living on the mainland and a mother of three children two daughters and one son had since February this year, is reported to have requested her husband {name with held} to allow her to rent a one room house of her own on the Island . The husband consented to this request and even travelled with her to the Island for the purpose of blessing the one room house as required by the Luo tradition and cultural virtue.

After blessing the house, the husband spent about three days with her on the Island and returned home to the mainland. Thereafter, the woman frequent trips to the mainland where she usually sells her fish became unusually irregular and dwindled though previously she used to return home almost every week.

A young woman married to a young man of twenty six years, but from a neighboring village is said to have confronted the woman’s husband in a market place and told him how his businesswoman wife had taken her husband along with her to the Ringiti fishing island, where they are reported to be cohabitating in one room house like a husband and wife.

The farmer couldn’t believe what he was hearing. But he composed himself handled the matter with dignity which is devoid of emotion and hired and dispatched a “Private Eye”to the island to investigate the rumor. The private eye spent three days on the island pretending to be o n a fish buying mission and returned home with full facts, that reaffirmed the story. The investigator even visited the woman and her secret loved and had supper with the unsuspecting lovers couple who entertained him with a few bottles of beer.

On receiving the report, the farmer armed himself with a Maasai simi, a rungu and hired a motorboat late in the afternoon for a close to four hour voyage. He arrived on the island at about 7.p.m. and walked street into his wife one roomed house. The wife was somehow surprised why he had made such an abrupt trip inquiring if something fishy has happened I n the family back home. But her husband only smiled broadly telling her that he had become love-sick after missing her for a couple of weeks.

Inside the house, the husband who caught the woman by surprise and unaware, saw a number a man’s clothes hanged, a man shoes, hut and other materials, which indicated that the place was a living room for a couple. But did not bother to inquire from his wife who the man or the owners of those materials was.

The woman cooked supper of “Ngege” and both enjoyed it with Ugali. The woman even took her visiting husband to a small bar and the two of them consumed several bottles of Tuskers” before coming back to the house and retiring to bed. During all these happened the visiting husband never showed any sign of distress of annoyance.

It happened that the husband arrived at the time when the amorous man had gone on fishing expedition for the whole night only returning after past midnight. The wife is said to have made frantic effort to reach his secret lover via her cell phone, but it was heavily raining and the young man had switched off his mobile phone the better part of the night, therefore there was a total communication breakdown between.

Inside the woman’s house, her husband had hidden the crude weapons inside a big brief case and things looked normal. But at about 2.30 AM,there was a knock at the door.The young man had returned from fishing expedition and had come home to sleep. Them woman hesitated from opening the door, and it was the husband who stood up in the darkness got hold of his rungu and Maasai sword and opened the door for the stranger. As the amorous fishermen popped his head past the door while inquiring what had happened to the spotlight the where about of the lamp, the husband slashed his nose with the simi. This was followed with heavy blows to his face sending sprawling on the ground This was the best opportunity of the offended husband to use made good use of his rungu. He reigned blow and kicks on the helpless man on the ground and struck the man on both knees and face.

The amorous fishermen grasp the remaining strength, stoop up and took to his heel, but to nowhere, because the small fishing island is only an acre and half in and size, most of it occupied by small huts which belong to the fishermen and fish traders.

The whole Island got woken amid the cries of Uwwwiii Uwiii which alerted the few Ugandan security personnel who were on the patrol near the island. As the amorous fishermen run around the rocky island with the husband of the woman in hot pursuit on his heels. He latr jumped on one parked small home made canoe and pushed it into the water and peddle to the deeper said of the lake to escape punishment.

But not before the man lost four of his upper teach and two of the lower teeth plus a suspoected broken jews.after received blows from the husband of the woman a heavily built and stronger man of about 45years.

The amorous fisherman is reported to have single handedly peddled the canoe up to Karungu Bay in Nyatike mainland living his clothe and other belonging on the Island, which the enraged husband is said to have confiscated and promised to use as exhibits in a divorce case he is planning to file in a civil court later.

The husband was heard shouting loudly while raining blows on the face of the amorous fisherman “Ong’erni tinde ini ng’eya ni an ng’ano” (you monkey today you’ll know whom I am today}

Sources have told us that the husband boarded the boat which he had hired previously taking with him all the belonging of his wife, plus fisherman’s clothes of her secret lover. The woman later followed her husband on the mainland, but went straight to her parents home, while her secret loved boarded a boat heading for Bugiri district in Uganda where he is said to be receiving medical treatment for the nose his buttered nose and bodily injuries he had sustained during the midnight heavy championship boxing bout, which has since been baptized as Mohamed Ali Verses Joe Frezier of the 1970s in Manilla Philiphine.

Report emerging from areas adjacent to Lake Victoria shorelines and also from the dozens of small fishing islands talk of moral decaying in that many woman who had left their husbands on the mainland usually hired young men s the acting husbands while doing business in those places. Widows whose husbands have died of HIV/Aids have also infiltrated these places for easy and luxurious life.Ad that is reason why there is widespread of the Hiv/Aids outbreak.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com