The Power of the Dugutigi (aka things do not always go as we would like)
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Feb 23, 2009 Posted by Christopher MoynihanWritten by Sara Rosen
Dugutigi is a Bambara word meaning chief of the village (dugu is village and tigi is chief). Dugutigi’s all around Mali, and Africa, are quite important and quite powerful. If there are any problems in a village, or any projects started, he must be consulted. If a meeting happens that dugutigi isn’t aware of it, problems normally ensue. Even though Sikoroni isn’t a small village, dugutigi’s still exist in each neighborhood in Bamako.
Sikoroni/Sourakabougou held a large General Assembly meeting last week to talk about the committee that will run the new clinic that we’re building. The dugutigi of Sikoroni was invited, but unfortunately a faux-pas was made: He was offered the wrong chair, and was therefore offended. This extremely important meeting thus started off on the wrong foot.
After some heated conversation about who was to be on the Board of the new clinic, and lots of yelling coming from discontented chekorobau (old Malian men), our Malian director was called up and asked to provide an overview of the importance of the prompt selection of a community Board. After what I can assume was a passionate and moving Bambara speech from Niang, in his black suit and MHOP World AIDS Day tshirt, we awaited the chekorobau’s responses. Not 2 minutes after Niang sat down, a powerful member of the community who feels his role threatened by the fact that he would not likely be elected to the Board, got up to the microphone and very un-diplomatically told everyone in the crowd that Niang was a crook. Before I even knew what happened, everyone was out of their chairs, moving toward their motorcycles and preparing to leave in protest of this man's impoliteness. The dugutigi did nothing.
After the meeting disbanded I began to think about the power of the dugutigi. He could have stood up and told everyone to sit down. He could have shown more support for the new clinic’s Board, and the community's right to choose their own leaders. Instead, he sat quietly and mumbled things in Bambara. Dugutigi is powerful, and we must find a way to convince him to democratize the selection process. We are meeting this week with an elder, renowned clinic leader, and friend of Dugutigi named Danzeni Kone to influence this process, and the community has been given a deadline of March 1st for the selection of the Board. We will keep you posted!