Stephen Mburu
9 October 2009
Nairobi — What was supposed to be a colourful launch of a Kikuyu Council of Elders at Thika Stadium last Saturday turned chaotic when police stormed the venue and dispersed the participants.
Now some of the organisers are claiming that forces opposed to the unity of the community were behind the move.In separate interviews, religious leaders and co-founders of the elders group -- Archbishop John Mugecha, Archbishop David Maina wa Gaithuru and Bishop Joseph Methu -- told the Saturday Nation that the formation of a Kikuyu Council of Elders was long overdue.
They noted that recently, the Njuri Ncheke and the Luo Council of Elders were invited to Tripoli by Libyan leader and African Union chairman Muammar Gaddafi, who hosted community elders from around the continent. According to them, the Kikuyu missed out because they lack such a forum.
It is unfortunate, they say, that the gathering was viewed with suspicion whereas its goals were noble. Founders and organisers say the council aims to empower the youth economically. Towards this end, they argue, the elders would start an intensive campaign against the outlawed Mungiki sect and also fight the proliferation of illicit brews and drugs in Central Province.
Last Saturday, a combined force of regular and administration police sealed off Thika Stadium and arrested nine participants and organisers. Local District Commissioner Wilson Njenga said the meeting was cancelled on security grounds, citing intelligence reports that the Mungiki sect planned to hijack the function.
Those arrested but released later included interim chairman Wachira Kaigo and former Nakuru Kanu branch chairman Kimani Ngunjiri. But the organisers, together with legendary musician Joseph Kamaru, who is the council's events manager, dismiss the Mungiki link.
"There are people who think the Council of Elders would build others politically and socially. Such people would use every means to stop us. This would be their happiness," Archbishop Mugecha of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Kenya told the Saturday Nation.
Bishop Methu, who is the chairman of the Federation of Evangelical and Indigenous Christian Churches of Kenya, said: "Our political leaders should not feel threatened. The idea is quite ideal. Other communities have own councils of elders which give youth guidance on cultural and national issues. The idea should not be opposed by anybody," he said.
The Kikuyu Council of Elders is modelled around influential organisations such as Meru's Njuri Ncheke, Mijikenda's Kaya ya Bombo, and the Luo, Maasai, Kalenjin and Luhyia councils of elders.
Quiet resurgence
What is not clear is how it would tie in with Mr Njenga Karume's Gikuyu, Embu, Meru Association (Gema), the once-proscribed organisation that has in recent years made a quiet resurgence. The once all-powerful Gema was banned by former President Daniel arap Moi in the early 1980s, alongside other ethnic associations, in a move to trim Kikuyu influence.
After President Kibaki came to power, the association was revived, but has preferred to operate quietly and eschew political activity. The interim coordinators of the proposed elders council are mostly non-political figures. They include Archbishop Mugecha, Archbishop wa Gaithuru and Bishop Methu.
Others are businessmen and farmers Mr Ayub Wakaria and Mr Joseph Muiruri (all from Central Kenya), Mr Adin Njenga and Mr Kamau Wainaina (Nairobi), and Mr Zakayo Maina, Mr Ambrose Wakaria and former Nakuru mayor Kimunya Kamana (from Rift Valley).
"Members of the council of elders shall not vie for political posts. The council will be delinked from commercial interests. We must delink politics from community leadership," Mr Kiago says. Meanwhile, Njuri Ncheke secretary-general Mzee Phares Rutere said the elders were ready to help their Kikuyu counterparts start a strong council.
"Kikuyu elders should start a council similar to ours. If they want help, we will gladly offer it," Mzee Rutere told the Saturday Nation by telephone on Friday. He said that were the Kikuyu elders organized, they would have been represented in Libya.
However, he declined to disclose how President Gaddafi invited them. "I am not ready to tell you that. But the Libyan government took care of everything," Mzee Rutere said.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
It's a shame to start thinkin of eldership in this century.