So, Kenya is reportedly launching a vetting operation on foreigners in West Pokot County over alleged involvement in cannibalism and organ harvesting.
Fair enough—any responsible state would act swiftly in the face of such horrifying claims. But what caught my eye was the detail that nationals from Rwanda are among those under fresh scrutiny.
Let’s pause there for a moment.
Rwanda? Cannibalism?
As a Rwandan, I find that not only far-fetched—it’s simply untrue, historically and culturally. There’s never been a time in our long, complex, and sometimes painful past where cannibalism was practiced, accepted, or even whispered about as a norm. Not in the days of kings and clans, not during colonial upheavals, and certainly not today.
Our traditional society—organized around clans (amoko), with deep respect for rituals, burial rites, and taboos—would never have permitted such a thing.
The kirazira system of taboos (strict moral boundaries) strongly forbade acts that dishonored the dead, violated bodily integrity, or disrespected spiritual order. Eating human flesh? That would have been seen not just as a crime, but as a complete spiritual collapse.
That said, the only time people consumed human flesh on Rwandan soil was during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi—a horrifying moment in our history when the moral and social order was shattered.
In Kinazi, a region in Southern Rwanda, Burundian refugees, who had been in Rwanda for some time, were mobilized by the genocidal government and Interahamwe militias to participate in the mass killings.
Survivors from Kinazi testify that some of these individuals were particularly brutal—not only murdering Tutsis but slicing open bodies and consuming their hearts in broad daylight.
The Kinazi Genocide Memorial Site today holds both the evidence and the testimonies of this grisly chapter, reminding us that this was not a cultural act, but a product of state-sponsored terror and absolute moral collapse.
Of course, we know how misinformation travels. One sensational line on social media becomes a headline, which becomes a stereotype, which becomes a suspicion stamped on passports. That’s how prejudice is born.
So to our brothers and sisters in Kenya: investigate thoroughly, prosecute whoever is responsible, protect your communities.
Cannibalism never was our story. It never will be.
