A section of the Kikuyu Council of Elders from Kiama Kia Ma in Kiambu county has threatened to reverse cultural rites conducted by a member they claim had not undergone circumcision.
The elders accused the more than 70-year-old member of concealing his identity for years while participating in the council and conducting traditional rites despite allegedly knowing that he had not been circumcised.
Led by Captain Kung’u Muigai, who is a retired military officer, businessman, patron of the Kikuyu National Council of Elders (KNCE) and first cousin of former President Uhuru Kenyatta, the elders said the alleged conduct had brought shame to the council.
“The member has been conducting national rites. He has wronged the elders greatly. All those who had rites performed on them by the member should be very careful because they will need to be cleansed,” said one of the elders.
The elder said the council would henceforth establish whether prospective members had undergone circumcision before admitting them.
“We have so many members among us who have not been circumcised and have been hiding,” he said.
“He got circumcised like five years ago. He was more than 70 years. We have the evidence of the person who took him to get initiated. We have the doctor’s letter showing the time he got initiated,” said Muigai.
“When a person gets initiated at 70 years he has a lot of cultural dirt. First, he got into our council as a boy. He then conducted so many rites. He has conducted sacred rites at my home. He rejected our plea to have him cleansed,” he said.
Muigai said the man had also been at the forefront of discussions on Ituĩka, a traditional constitutional ceremony through which the Agĩkũyũ traditionally marked the transfer of authority between generations.
“Ituika is a very important aspect among the Agikuyu. As elders, we can’t allow it to be trivialised,” said Muigai.
Performed every 30 to 40 years, it is an indigenous democratic system where the ruling elder generation peacefully hands over political, judicial, and religious governance to the incoming younger generation
The elders further threatened that if they discovered a member who had not been circumcised, they would initiate him themselves rather than take him to hospital.
The members, however, sought an apology, arguing that those who handed the alleged member leadership of the council had failed to follow the proper procedures.
The controversy has also attracted debate online, with some questioning the decision to make the dispute public.
John Karanja said: “Why have you opted to shame yourselves publicly? You could have discussed this internally.”
Kinyanjui wa Ngugi asked: “What is the name of the alleged person?”
James Prince, meanwhile, commented: “Some of these culture stuff are even hilarious.”
