Over the past decade or so, Maasai vendors selling shoes, jewellery, and other artefacts have become a common sight across East African countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), mostly walking by foot from one place to another, one country to another.

One of them is Macai Koinet, who has been doing the ‘nomadic’ business for the last 12 years, crisscrossing different East and Southern African countries.

ALSO READ: How effective has the ban on hawkers been?

He is one of the many Maasai merchandise hawkers who are seen moving around Kigali, armed with a long stick, on which the shoes and other handmade crafts are hanging.

Clad in two pieces of fabric wrapped around their stiff, athletic bodies, Maasai hawkers move from one suburb to another, selling traditionally made shoes, earrings, and bracelets, and on a day one can cover an average of about 25km in distance, moving at a slow and steady pace.

Like many of his peers, Koinet doesn’t speak much, mostly minds his business, and will wait for you to signal him before he comes to you if you want to buy. He is reluctant to offer media interviews and refuses to be photographed.

After going through a third party to broker an interview, Koinet who has been working and living in Kimironko, Gasabo District, eventually accepted to speak out albeit in a measured manner.

"Our business is peaceful. This is partly to promote our culture across East Africa and the continent,” Koinet says.

He started doing the business when he was 20, first moving from his native Kenya to Tanzania, Burundi, and then Rwanda, where he lives today, but for him, even Rwanda is just a stopover.

The camera-shy 32-year-old says that he started the shoe-selling business because his family had been moved from their native land by a development project, which forced them to embark on a nomadic lifestyle.

Today, Koinet works with other Maasai traders who import goods from Kenya and Tanzania to replenish his stock, so he doesn’t have to travel to Kenya every time he wants to restock.

"Because of The East African Community (EAC), we have been able to move freely and get our goods,” Koinet says, adding that he uses legal documents to travel and restocks from traders who legally bring in goods.

ALSO READ: How City of Kigali nipped ‘street vendor menace’ in the bud

Last week, Maasai shoe hawkers, locally known as ‘Aba Maasai’ in Rwanda were at the centre of a social media debate after Lt. Col Vianney Higiro, the interim commander of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Reserve Force in Musanze District, Northern Province, said that they would crackdown on the Maasai hawkers for illegally engaging in business.

Among other reasons, Higiro said the Maasai vendors engage in other illegal businesses, including selling male sexual enhancement drugs as well as portions said to boost fertility but cover it up using shoes.

In the viral video, the army official encouraged citizens to examine the number of shoe pairs they ‘sell’, emphasising that this remains constant. This highlights that their primary focus is not shoes, but rather the charms and concoctions which they use to dupe people.

Higiro further said that Maasai hawkers cannot be left to engage in street vending yet Rwandans are not allowed to do so, urging residents of Musanze to report them, adding that they will be required to have passports and trade licenses like everyone else.

It is a development that triggered a debate, with many wondering why indeed the Maasai hawkers are left to go about their vending business without any problem yet authorities are strict on street vending.

A sea of myths and a few bad apples

The debate around Maasai hawkers has reignited a debate on the many myths and stereotypes that surround them, with many attributing their ‘invincibility’ to ‘juju’ or witchcraft, which is feared by people.

It is not clear when the first Maasai hawker arrived in Rwanda but Koinet says that from the information they gathered, the first group (they normally move in groups) arrived in Rwanda in 2012, mainly selling shoes and other goods.

Since their arrival in Rwanda, many myths have been making rounds, including claims that they rely on witchcraft and charms to woo their customers, and if you don’t buy from them or chase them, something horrible will happen to you.

ALSO READ: Govt earmarks Rwf800m for street vendors

In other cases, it is claimed that at one point law enforcers arrested one of them in downtown Nyabugogo but the Police vehicle could not move due to the same witchcraft. It is further alleged that the police vehicle moved upon setting him free.

In other bizarre claims, it is said that in Gacinjiro centre, Gisozi, a businessman who chased them out of his hardware shop was attacked by bees which entered his shop until he apologised to them.

In different suburbs of Kigali, Maasai hawkers freely enter other business premises including supermarkets, garages, local markets, bars and shops, selling their own merchandise. They are not chased or heckled.

"Nobody touches them because they have witchcraft,” claimed a social media user identified as Egide Dusabimana, while one Lorenzo Musanganfura claimed that he bought sandals and a wallet from a Maasai hawker out of fear.

"I heard that when you don’t buy from them, they curse you,” Musangamfura claimed, while others reinforced the stereotypes around the Maasais.

However, Herve Murekezi, a businessman in town, says he simply lets them enter his shop because they are harmless and offer unique products that don’t compete with what he sells.

"I have heard rumours that they can do something to you if you chase them or if you don’t pay them on time but I have not experienced that. I just let them come here because they are not affecting my business,” Murekezi says.

In another strange claim, certain social media users alleged that some of the Maasai street vendors are not authentic Maasais but rather Rwandans who dress up as Maasai warriors to participate in street vending.

Koinet says that typical Maasai hawkers are harmless and only focus on selling their goods, but there are a few bad apples who have created a negative perception in society.

"The Maasai don’t generally use witchcraft but we do have our traditional herbs which have proved to be effective in many ways, including boosting one’s sexual appetite and easing childbirth.

"These are well known methods even recognised by national authorities in Kenya. Anything else that doesn’t represent us as a people or our culture is being promoted by a few bad apples, not real Maasai traders,” Koinet said.

Similarly, Jackie Lumbasi, a Kenyan media personality who has been living in Rwanda since 2018, says the majority of the claims about Maasais are mythical and unfounded and unlikely to be true.

"Most of these mythical stories about Maasais and other tribes in Kenya such as the Kamba in regard to witchcraft or use of ‘Juju’ are prevalent, even in Kenya, but personally I believe most of them are not true.

"However, when something is repeated over and over, psychologically people start believing it even if such claims are false,” Lumbasi says, dismissing any claims of ‘special powers’ by the Maasai street hawkers.

Growing up in Kenya, Lumbasi says she grew up around such claims, mainly attributed to elders who were said to have special qualities, including the ability to summon rain over a pot of local brew, but the majority of these claims were unfounded and could not be verified.

Koinet pointed out that there are several Maasai traders who do business legally in Rwanda in different places, including Nyabugogo, Nyanza, and Kimironko bus parks while others have stalls in markets as well as shops.

In Nyabugogo Bus Park, where some Maasai traders have shops, they are reluctant to speak to the media, let alone be filmed.

Efforts to be interviewed by The New Times were futile as they turned down any attempts to speak out about the many stories surrounding them.

However, Koinet says Maasai naturally tend to work in silence and shun media interviews mainly because it is not part of their culture.

What City of Kigali says

During a press conference on September 21, the City of Kigali mayor, Pudence Rubingisa, said that Maasai hawkers "don’t have any special immunity to do hawking.”

"They are no different from other street hawkers. They are not given any special treatment. They are penalised like other street vendors. However, like we are doing with other street vendors, we are looking to help them to do business legally.”

Rubingisa said that Maasai hawkers will also be helped like other street vendors to join free markets where street hawkers are taken by city authorities to do business legally.

He said they are also allowed to form groups or cooperatives and access benefits such as capital to grow their businesses, but they will not be allowed to move freely on the streets.

He added, however, that they are allowed to do business in Rwanda and they can be assisted to formalise their businesses, pointing out that the city has reinforced measures to prohibit street hawking mainly for security reasons and for a better-organised city.