The Imbalu ceremony has been scheduled for August 3rd, 2024, in Mutoto, Mbale City. As a tradition, hundreds of young men with circumcision gear will gather at the circumcision site and be officially flagged off by the cultural leader of the Bamasaba, His Royal Highness Jude Mike Mudoma, for a series of circumcision activities across the region.
While briefing the Bamasaba on Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Radio (UBC), Butebo channel, the spokesperson of Inzu ya Masaba, Steven Masiga, confirmed the attendance of several kings and cultural leaders from across Africa.
African cultural leaders from Ghana, Ngoni State, Swaziland (Eswatini), and Mumias, Kenya, have all expressed interest in participating in the Imbalu ceremony. Ugandan cultural leaders have also shown interest in attending, Mr. Masiga noted.
He further stated that the cultural leader of Inzu ya Masaba has officially invited President Museveni of Uganda, President Dr. William Ruto of Kenya, including the Speaker of the Kenyan National Parliament, Rt. Hon. Moses Wetangula Masika, as top guests of the Bamasaba community.
The Imbalu ceremony is a biennial event that takes place every even or leap year. Due to COVID-19, President Museveni suspended all activities related to public gatherings, and in 2020, the ceremony did not take place as a result of that directive.
In 2022, there was a lukewarm attitude towards the ceremony since the Bamasaba had not yet appointed a cultural leader mandated to preside over such events. Last year, in August 2023, the Government of Uganda, in line with Article 246 and sections 6 of the Cultural Leaders Act 2011, gazetted the current cultural leader, and this will be his first time presiding over the ceremony in an official capacity.
The Bamasaba are united under Inzu ya Masaba, a cultural institution that serves as a one-stop cultural home for Bamasaba from Mwambu, Wanale, Mubuya, and Kenya.
The spokesperson of Inzu ya Masaba also encouraged the Bamasaba to fully prepare for the ceremony by planting sufficient and quick-yielding food crops. He appealed to them to celebrate the Imbalu ceremony within the confines of the law and refrain from engaging in criminal activities during this period, emphasizing that circumcision does not grant immunity to commit crimes. They expect their people to celebrate the Imbalu peacefully.
