The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
When you think witchcraft, the regions likely to pop up in your mind are the Coast, Ukambani and Western Kenya. But beneath the veneer of modernity and religion, the Agikuyu, who have always frowned upon juju, are turning their back on history and quietly consulting witchdoctors.
In December 2012, thugs broke into a coffee factory in Mukurweini Sub-country and stole ten bags of grade one coffee beans worth hundreds of thousand of shillings. Angered that police seemed unable to apprehend the suspects, the management of the coffee factory raised cash and hired a witchdoctor from Tharaka Nithi County.
The witchdoctor, identified only as Magondu, came to the factory with his paraphernalia and conducted rituals to apprehend the culprits. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a con, and despite pocketing Sh55,777 from the factory coffers, the suspects remain at large!
“We suspected failure by police to thoroughly investigate criminal incidences, especially theft, leads victims to look for alternative solutions, no matter how demonic they are,” said Patrick Waweru, a resident of Sweetwaters area in Laikipia County. Thieves aside, business rivalry, love, disputes between neighbours and family and court cases are sending the desperate to waganga because, as University of Nairobi Sociology lecturer Dr Ken Ouko says the modern Kikuyu man or woman is more receptive of other cultures. Because of this, he argues, the Agikuyu culture has benefited from a ventilation process that now permits them to rear fish and eat fish. This partially explains why such practises as witchcraft, hitherto unheard of among the Agikuyu, are now trending. Mzee Mathenge wa Iregi, an elder from the Mount Kenya region, agrees, saying the rising trend of Central Kenya people turning to witchcraft is surprising because juju was not entrenched in their cultural history like it was in Kirinyaga, Embu and Meru.
“Although the Kikuyu community believed in witchcraft, the community did not have witchdoctors, but the residents had their own ways of finding solutions to mysterious circumstances,” he said.
Dr Ouko terms witchcraft among the Agikuyu as a survivalist technique.
“Of all the ethnic communities in Kenya, the Agikuyu are the most spatially dispersed. In pursuit of their famed commercial exploits, the Agikuyu will settle anywhere in Kenya as long as they are able to exist profitably regardless of prevalent hostilities from the host communities.
“Their sudden affinity to witchcraft may be interpreted as a survivalist technique. If a Kikuyu in, say Bungoma, gets to know that the richest trader in the village uses witchcraft, he will also look for stronger juju. When you go to Rome, do as the Romans do,” says the sociologist.
Dr Ouko also links witchcraft to the capitalist mindset of the Agikuyu: “If, as it is believed, the Agikuyu are willing to go to any lengths to generate, protect and perpetuate wealth, and witchcraft happens to be one such means of actualising their capitalistic mindset, the Agikuyu will go for it and perfect it.”
Reverend David Githii agrees that witchcraft has rapidly found roots in the Kikuyu nation contrary to how things were few years ago, an occurrence he also attributes to the rush for wealth.
“It is all because of the spirit of money. It is in pursuit of this wealth and power that you find our people getting involved in witchcraft. When it comes to these two things we want them instantly and when our people are told there is an easy way to take it quickly, they will go for it,’’ says the former Presbyterian cleric.
He adds: ‘’Look at these churches being started by our people. They are aimed at financial prosperity and and that is why they turn to even witchcraft and illuminati to prosper’’.
According to Githii, the speed with which the community appreciated the culture of the White man is to blame.
“We came to know money before others and we have grown focusing on amassing more and more. Some of us can use all means to bring down their rivals and will not hesitate to go to such extents of consulting witchdoctors,’’ says the controversial cleric.
—Additional reporting by David Odongo and James Mwangi
