Kikuyu elders will gather in Nyeri on Saturday where they will install a new patron – Kinyua Mwangi – ending years of wrangles of the leadership of the influential Kiama Kia Ma council.
In a ceremony bringing all elders from the Gikuyu community Kiama Kia Ma and Kikuyu Council of Elders will congregate at the Luisoi Resort in Kieni where an elaborate ceremony will be conducted.
Kiama Kia Ma national chairman Ndungu Gaithuma said all preparations have been completed and the ceremony will go as planned but strictly following the Covid-19 containment measures spelt out by the government.
“Everything is set and we are ready. We are happy that this day has finally come that will end the wrangles that had affected Kiama Kia Ma,’’ said Gaithuma.
The chairman of Kikuyu Council of Elders (KCE) Wachira Kiago said they were in full support of the crowning of Kinyua as the patron saying he has served the community very well and is a great peace maker.
“We support Kinyua and we are all united in this exercise. We are satisfied that Kinyua will be able to offer astute and progressive leadership,’’ said Kiago
Kinyua’s appointment was agreed on in Naivasha where the national leadership of Kiama Kia Ma met led by the national chairman Ndungu Gaithuma.
The appointment is a big blow to the hither-to and self-styled Kiama Kia Ma patron and President Uhuru’s cousin Capt (Rtd) Kungu Muigai.
Capt Muigai has been leading a section of Kiama Kia Ma and shot to infamy after he led the crowning of National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi as the Mt Kenya spokesman.
Muturi’s coronation that was denounced by both Kiama Kia Ma and Kikuyu Council of Elders caused a major cultural and political rift in Mt Kenya whose ramifications are still being felt.
Capt Kungu and Speaker Muturi ignored the objections of the elders and went ahead to conduct the crowning ceremony at the Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga considered by the Gikuyu community as a holy shrine where only prayers and cultural events could take place and not political shows.
After what they described as defiling the holy ground, Kiama Kia Ma elders and Kikuyu Council of elders went to the grounds and conducted a cleansing ceremony warning that failure to cleanse the holy shrine would result in a catastrophe.
