The holy Agikuyu shrine has been cleansed after a series of elaborate and solemn but confidential cultural rites were performed by specially selected cultural priests.
Adorned with cultural regalia, the priests arrived early at the Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga in Murang’a County and performed the rites to return the shrine to holy status and seek Ngai’s forgiveness and mercy.
The cleansing ceremony was being conducted two weeks after National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi held a controversial ceremony that had been denounced by elders and where he was crowned as the Mt Kenya spokesperson.
As the special elders were conducting the rites at the shrine, the others were gathered 10kms away in Murang’as town’s Mumbi grounds where the public prayer session was to be conducted at the arrival of the cultural priests.
Immediately the cleansing ceremony was complete, the elders announced that they had revoked the coronation of Muturi as the Mt Kenya spokesperson and that they had now undone his crowning ceremony.
Kikuyu Council of Elders (KCE) and Kiama Kia Ma jointly selected 30 cultural priests to conduct the cleansing and to appease Ngai (God) to avert any disaster from happening following what they termed as desecration of the holy shrine.
Kiama Kia Ma chairman Ndungu Gaithuma said the holy shrine was desecrated when seven renegade men misled Muturi against their advice and conducted a political ceremony on the revered grounds.
Gaithuma said even President Uhuru Kenyatta never entered the grounds and his crowing ceremony as the Agikuyu spokesperson was conducted at the Ihuura stadium.
He said Uhuru remains the spokesman of the Gema community and cannot be disinherited while he is still in office.
KCE chairman Wachira Kiago said he personally spoke to Muturi before the event and warned him against taking a political ceremony at the shrine and instead asked him to get another ground anywhere else.
Kiago said Muturi did not listen and instead followed the wrong advice by Capt Kungu Muigai who has now forced the elders to conduct unnecessary work to cleanse the shrine.
He said Capt Kungu must apologise to the elders and the entire Gema community for misleading Muturi for his own personal interests.
“Capt. Kungu must apologise to the elders and the entire Gema community. We will not forgive him until he apologises. He has made us do unnecessary work and created fear and confusion for turning our holy shrine into a political ground,’’ he said.
Murang’a governor Mwangi Wa Iria who attended the prayer at Mumbi grounds said it was very wrong and against the Agikuyu customs to crown a politician at the shrine. He said such a thing has never happened in the history of the Gikuyu community. He said even retired President Kibaki never entered the shrine as it is respected as a holy place where only special cultural ceremonies and prayer are to be held.
He thanked the elders for coming together and uniting and promised to get them a piece of land where they can build a cultural centre and where the current and future generations can be taught Gikuyu language, culture and customs.
