Sect whose members do not go hospital or vote

Kavonokya sect members during a prayer session [Philip Muasya, Standard]

It takes strong faith to refuse to go to hospital even when it is clear one’s life is hanging on a thread. Yet this unparalleled faith in spiritual matters is best demonstrated by members of the Kavonokya sect who form a sizable population in parts of Kitui County.

This faith anchored in some biblical scriptures and which is the foundation of the sect’s abhorrence for conventional medicine has for years left the public puzzled and sometimes reeling in anger. A recent case is the death of two boys aged five and seven last Friday after a botched circumcision bid in the hands of a traditionalist at Lundi village in Mwingi East. The siblings bled to death after the cut as their parents and other sect members engaged in endless prayers for their healing.