A mass circumcision is marketed to tourists in Uganda. Some are angrily objecting

Traditional circumcision knives are prepared by a surgeon a day before the launch of a ritual, known as Imbalu, at Kamu village in Mbale, Uganda. It is a curse if you bury into the land people who are not circumcised — Peter Gusolo, traditional surgeon “Our leadership is being hijacked” by national political leaders, said Wasukira Mashate, an elder who is a custodian of Bamasaaba cultural property, charging that the Umukuuka was missing the counsel of clan leaders with real spiritual authority. “It was for our own benefit culturally, but now it is becoming a national event because the government of Uganda has captured it.” At the ceremonial inauguration, an angry crowd gathered outside the totemic shrine of the clan that historically has launched Imbalu by cutting the first candidates. Circumcision “helps us to be strong,” said Peter Gusolo, a traditional surgeon, gesticulating to express his people’s purported sexual prowess. Watundu said that the street dancers he saw were “from different areas” and that most people attending Imbalu came “to do business.” He said of the Ugandan government’s involvement that it had “given some bad picture” about the Umukuuka’s role as the chief organizer of Imbalu.