NAIROBI — It has been a trying year in Kenya, one of the worst in decades, as a severe drought killed crops and cattle and left millions with empty stomachs and uncertain futures.
In the midst of such suffering, members of the Kenyan Parliament have been roused to action as seldom before, finding common ground on an issue so pressing that they threatened to stonewall the budget until it was addressed: another big increase in their compensation.
The move last month to reward themselves in a time of crisis infuriated Kenyan voters, most of whom scrape out a living on a small fraction of what their elected officials earn. It also reinforced the notion that this was a political drought, one that owed its origins as much to mismanagement in a country that should be able to feed itself as to the vagaries of nature.
“They are greedy,” said Jackson Ndungu, 50, a computer programmer who offered one of the milder critiques one can hear on the streets of Nairobi. “They are out only for themselves.”
Their reputation as fat cats did not come out of thin air. After coming into office in 2003 promising to reform an out-of-touch, authoritarian government, they squandered much of the public good will with their very first vote: It quadrupled their annual salaries.
Then they really got to work, voting to give themselves low-interest car and home loans, generous health insurance and retirement packages. As for other types of legislation, the record has been rather mixed, with fewer than a dozen bills becoming laws each year.
Kenya is a place where members of Parliament are expected to dole out cash to their constituents, and that is one of the justifications that legislators use to increase their own benefits. They say they frequently pay out of their pockets for funerals, school costs and other expenses associated with the people back home. They also contend that Kenyans expect their elected officials to dress well, live well and drive a car that is not a clunker.
The legislative branch of the government is flexing its muscles after years of being sidelined by an all-powerful head of state.
“What we are witnessing in Kenya is the rise of Parliament as a force to be reckoned with in the governance equation after 40 years of being a more or less a rubber stamp for the executive,” said Marc Cassidy, a U.S.-financed democracy adviser to the Parliament.
Still, some say the legislators have lost touch with the poor districts they represent. The Kenyan per capita income is about $463 a year, which nobody here would expect a lawmaker to survive on. Minimum wage is $924 a year, still far too little, in most Kenyans’ view, for someone taking care of the nation’s business.
But the base compensation that legislators earn is about $81,000 a year, tax free, plus a variety of allowances and perks, which can effectively double their take-home pay. That means these public servants earn more than most Kenyan corporate executives and also outstrip the salaries of many of their counterparts in the developed world.
“They are behaving like we are rich and as if there’s no famine and poverty in the country,” Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights, complained to The Daily Nation newspaper recently. “They want to make as much money as they can.”
The latest increase to their pay packages, which cost the country $2.78 million, nearly doubled the mileage allowances that they receive for their Mer- cedes, Land Rovers and other typically sleek rides. They will now receive a monthly lump sum of $4,719 to cover the first 350 kilometers, or 220 miles, they drive. After that, they will take in another $1.60 per kilometer, significantly more than ordinary Kenyans can claim as deductions on their tax forms.
The mileage allowance was particularly galling to Kenyans, most of whom struggle mightily to make ends meet, because it was approved while a severe drought ravages the country.
To get the car allowances, the legislators threatened to block a vote on the government budget, including a provision that provided aid to the 3.5 million people facing food shortages.
January 16th, 2010
The salaries of Members of Parliament are to be increased from Sh851,000 a month to Sh896,000 a month, a tribunal appointed by the House has recommended.
In addition, MPs’ pay will be increased by five per cent every year to cushion them against a rise in the cost of living and their allowances for sitting in parliament have been doubled.
And Prime Minister Raila Odinga is to earn Sh1.67 million every month, some Sh350,000 more than Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka the tribunal says, settling a vexing quarrel over who is President Kibaki’s second-in-command.
But MPs will pay more tax, after their taxed basic salary was increased from Sh200,000 to Sh350,000. The bulk of their income made up of allowances will however not be taxed and, according to the tribunal, cannot be taxed until the law is changed.
The tribunal, chaired by retired Appellate Judge Akilano Akiwumi, agonised over awarding a pay rise for MPs in the face of public hostility and an economy in recession. Indeed, the tribunal gives eloquent reasons why a salary increase at this time is not wise.
The increase has been achieved by removing one of the MPs’ three car allowances, adding part of it to the basic pay and spreading the rest to other allowances.
All other allowances have been increased, some such as sitting allowance, more than twice.
It is no doubt that Kenyan MPs, and Ministers are the highest paid politicians in the world. A comparison made with pay of leaders in most developed countries like USA and Britain and some African countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda by
International Jurist Commission – Kenya leaves no doubt to the veracity of this assertion. Furthermore, the high pay compares poorly with the low per capita economic figures in Kenya and the poor performance of the MPs in the parliament.
January 16th, 2010
The Authentic People of Kenya – a Tourist Favorite
The Maasai tribe is the most authentic ethnic tribe of Kenya. The Maasai tribe (or Masai) is a unique and popular tribe due to their long preserved culture. Despite education, civilization and western cultural influences, the Maasai people have clung to their traditional way of life, making them a symbol of Kenyan culture.
The Maasai’s distinctive culture, dress and strategic territory along the game parks of Kenya and Tanzania have made them one of East Africa’s most internationally famous tourist attractions.
Maasai people reside in both Kenya and Tanzania, living along the border of the two countries. They are a smaller tribe, accounting for only about 0.7 percent of Kenya’s population, with a similar number living in Tanzania. Maasais speak Maa, a Nilotic ethnic language from their origin in the Nile region of North Africa. The Samburu tribe is the closest to the Maasai in both language and cultural authenticity.
History of the Maasai Tribe
It is thought that the Maasai’s ancestors originated in North Africa,migrating south along the Nile Valley and arriving in Northern Kenya in the middle of the 15th century. They continued southward, conquering all of the tribes in their path, extending through the Rift Valley and arriving in Tanzania at the end of 19th century. As they migrated, they attacked their neighbors and raided cattle. By the end of their journey, the Maasai had taken over almost all of the land in the Rift Valley as well as the adjacent land from Mount Marsabit to Dodoma, where they settled to graze their cattle.
Maasai Historical Changes
Tragedy struck the Maasai tribe at the turn of the century. An epidemic of deadly diseases attacked and killed large numbers of the Maasai’s animals. This was quickly followed by severe drought that lasted years. Over half of the Maasais and their animals perished during this period. Soon after, more than two thirds of the Maasai’s land in Kenya was taken away by the British and the Kenyan government to create both ranches for settlers and Kenya and Tanzania’s wildlife reserves and national parks.
The Amboseli National Park, Nairobi National Park, Masai Mara Game Reserve, Samburu, Lake Nakuru, and Tsavo National Parks in Kenya and the Manyara, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Serengeti parks in Tanzania all stand on what was once the territory of the Maasai tribe.
Today, the Maasai people live on a smaller piece of land in the Kajiado and Narok districts, surrounded by Kenya’s fine game reserves. Many practice nomadic pastoralism, while others have been absorbed into modern day jobs working in tourism where they showcase their culture to visiting tourists.
Maasai Culture
The warrior is of great importance as a source of pride in the Maasai culture. To be a Maasai is to be born into one of the world’s last great warrior cultures. From boyhood to adulthood, young Maasai boys begin to learn the responsibilities of being a man (helder) and a warrior. The role of a warrior is to protect their animals from human and animal predators, to build kraals (Maasai homes) and to provide security to their families.
Through rituals and ceremonies, including circumcision, Maasai boys are guided and mentored by their fathers and other elders on how to become a warrior. Although they still live their carefree lives as boys – raiding cattle, chasing young girls, and game hunting – a Maasai boy must also learn all of the cultural practices, customary laws and responsibilities he’ll require as an elder.
An elaborate ceremony – Eunoto – is usually performed to “graduate” the young man from their moran and carefree lifestyle to that of a warrior. Beginning life as a warrior means a young man can now settle down and start a family, acquire cattle and become a responsible elder. In his late years, the middle-aged warrior will be elevated to a senior and more responsible elder during the Olng’eshere ceremony.
Maasai children enter into a system of “age-sets” with peers where various life stages, such as circumcision, are marked with ritual and ceremonies. At the age of 14, girls are initiated into adulthood through an official circumcision ceremony known as Emorata.
Presently, the female circumcision ritual is outlawed in Kenya and its use is diminishing from the Maasai women’s culture. Young Maasai girls are still taught other functional roles like how to build houses, make beadwork, and cook and clean their homes, by their mother and other older women. When they come of age, their parents “book” a warrior from a respectable clan as an appropriate husband for their daughter.
Maasai Homes
Since the Maasai lead a semi-nomadic life, their houses are loosely constructed and semi-permanent. They are usually small, circular houses built by the women using mud, grass, wood and cow-dung.
The men build the fences and sheds for the animals.
Maasai and Their Love of Cattle
The Maasai tribe has a deep, almost sacred, relationship with cattle. They are guided by a strong belief that God created cattle especially for them and that they are the sole custodians of all the cattle on earth. This bond has led them into a nomadic way of life following patterns of rainfall over vast land in search of food and water for their large herds of cattle. The Maasai tribe measures wealth by the number of cattle and children one has.
Clothing & Beauty
Though they traditionally dressed in animal skins, today, typical Maasai dress consists of red sheets, (shuka), wrapped around the body and loads of beaded jewelry placed around the neck and arms. These are worn by both men and women and may vary in color depending on the occasion.
Ear piercing and the stretching of earlobes are also part of Maasai beauty, and both men and women wear metal hoops on their stretched earlobes.
Women shave their heads and remove two middle teeth on the lower jaw (for oral delivery of traditional medicine). The Maasai often walk barefooted or wear simple sandals made of cow hide.
Faith & Religion
In their monotheistic traditional beliefs, the Maasai god (Enkai or Engai) was manifested in two forms: the black god, who was benevolent; and the red god, who was vengeful. Today most of the Maasai tribe are Christians and a minority are Muslims.
Maasai Food
All of the Maasai’s needs for food are met by their cattle. They eat the meat, drink the milk and, on occasion, drink the blood. Bulls, oxen and lambs are slaughtered for meat on special occasions and for ceremonies. The by-products of the animals – skin and hides – are used as bedding while cow dung is used for building (it is smeared on the walls). The Maasai’s entire way of life truly revolves around their cattle.
The Maasai Tribe Today
The effects of modern civilization, education and western influence have not completely spared this unique and interesting tribe. Some of the Maasai tribe’s deep-rooted culture is slowly fading away. Customs, activities and rituals such as female circumcision and cattle raiding have been outlawed by modern legislation. Maasai children now have access to education and some Maasai have moved from their homeland to urban areas where they have secured jobs.
The Maasai tribe now occupy a much smaller area in the Kajiado and Narok districts as their vast territory has been taken over by some of Kenya’s game reserves. The Maasai’s territory now overlaps with the Serengeti plains in Tanzania and Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya – an area famous for the huge wildebeest migration that take place every year, when up to a million animals move from the north end of the plains to the south. However, the Maasai’s authentic and intriguing culture is a tourist attraction on its own. You can experience Maasai culture while on a safari tour in Kenya.
Maasai Cultural Tours
Kenya’s safari tours enable both visiting tourists and native Kenyans to enjoy the country’s wildlife, while also exploring the Maasai’s rich cultural heritage by visiting their homes and attending Maasai cultural shows. These tours are held in Kenya’s various game reserves, in particular, the Masai Mara National reserve.
Tours also provide an ideal opportunity for participants to take part in the Maasai dance and buy traditional Maasai jewelry, art and crafts to take home as souvenirs
January 16th, 2010
The Kamba (Akamba in the plural) are a Bantu ethnic group who live in the semi-arid Eastern Province of Kenya stretching east from Nairobi to Tsavo and north up to Embu, Kenya. This land is called Ukambani. Sources vary on whether they are the third, fourth or the fifth largest ethnic group in Kenya. They speak the Kikamba language.
Anthropologists believe that the Akamba are a mixture of several East African people, and bear traits of the Bantu farmers (Kikuyu, Taita) as well as those of the Nilotic pastoralists (Maasai, Kalenjin, Borana, etc) and the cushite communities with whom they share borders, to the east of Tsavo. The Akamba are often found engaged in different professions: some are agriculturalists, others are traders, while others have taken up formal jobs. Barter trade with the Kikuyu, Maasai, Meru and Embu people in the interior and the Mijikenda and Arab people of the coast was also practiced by the Akamba who straddled the eastern plains of Kenya.
Over time, the Akamba extended their commercial activity and wielded economic control across the central part of the land that was later to be known as Kenya (from the Kikamba, ‘Kiinyaa’, meaning ‘the Ostrich Country’), from the Indian Ocean in the east to Lake Victoria in the west, and all the way up to Lake Turkana on the northern frontier. The Akamba traded in locally-produced goods such as cane beer, ivory, brass amulets, tools and weapons, millet, and cattle. The food obtained from trading helped offset shortages caused by droughts and famines. They also traded in medicinal products known as ‘Miti’ (literally: plants), made from various parts of the numerous medicinal plants found on the East African plains. The Akamba are still known for their fine work in basketry and pottery. Their artistic inclination is evidenced in the sculpture work that is on display in many craft shops and galleries in the major cities and towns of Kenya.
In the mid-eighteenth century, a large number of Akamba pastoral groups moved eastwards from the Tsavo and Kibwezi areas to the coast. This migration was the result of extensive drought and lack of pasture for their cattle. They settled in the Mariakani, Kinango, Kwale, Mombasa West( Changamwe and Chaani ) Mombasa North ( Kisauni ) areas of the coast of Kenya, creating the beginnings of urban settlement. They are still found in large numbers in these towns, and have been absorbed into the cultural, economic and political life of the modern-day Coast Province. Several notable politicians, businessmen and women, as well as professional men and women are direct descendants of these itinerant pastoralists.
Colonialism and the 19th century
In the latter part of the 19th century the Arabs took over the coastal trade from the Akamba, who then acted as middlemen between the Arab and Swahili traders and the tribes further upcountry. Their trade and travel made them ideal guides for the caravans gathering slaves for the Middle Eastern and Indian markets. Early European explorers also used them as guides in their expeditions to explore East Africa due to their wide knowledge of the land and neutral standing with many of the other tribes they traded with.
Akamba resistance to colonialism was mostly non-violent in nature. Some of the best known Akamba resistance leaders to colonialism were: Syokimau, Syotune wa Kathukye, Muindi Mbingu, and later Paul Ngei, JD Kali, and Malu of Kilungu. Ngei and Kali were imprisoned by the colonial government for their anti-colonial protests. Syotune wa Kathukye led a peaceful protest to recover cattle confiscated by the British colonial government during one of their punitive expeditions on the local populations. Muindi Mbingu was arrested for leading another protest march to recover stolen land around the Mua Hills in Masaku district, which the British settlers eventually appropriated for themselves. JD Kali, along with Paul Ngei, joined the Mau Mau movement to recover Kenya for the Kenyan people. He was imprisoned in Kapenguria during the fighting between the then government and the freedom fighters.
The Kikamba family
In Kikamba culture, the family ( Musyi ) plays a central role in the community. The Akamba extended family or clan is called ‘mbai’. The man, who is the head of the family, is usually engaged in an economic activity popular among the community like trading, hunting, cattle-herding or farming. He is known as ‘Nau’, ‘Tata’ or ‘Asa’.
The woman, whatever her husband’s occupation, works on her plot of land, which she is given upon joining her husband’s household. She supplies the bulk of the food consumed by her family. She grows maize, millet, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, beans, pigeon peas, greens, arrow root, cassava, and in the cooler regions such as [Kangundo,Kilungu, Mbooni], yam. It is the mother’s role to bring up the children. Even children that have grown up into adults are expected to never contradict the mother’s wishes. The mother is known as ‘Mwaitu’ (’our One’).
Very little distinction is made between one’s children and nieces and nephews. They address their maternal uncle as ‘ma-ma’or naimiwa and maternal aunts as mwendya and for their paternal uncle and aunt as ‘mwendwau’. They address their paternal cousins as ‘waasa’(for men is mwanaasa and for women is mwiituasa), and the maternal cousins (aunt’s side) as ‘wa mwendya’ (for men is mwanaa mwendya and mwiitu wa mwendya for women). Children often move from one household to another with ease, and are made to feel at home by their aunts and uncles who, while in charge of their nephews/nieces, are their de facto parents.
Grandparents (Susu or Usua, Umau or Umaa) help with the less strenuous chores around the home, such as rope-making, tanning leather, carving of bee hives, three-leged wooden stools, etc, cleaning calabashes and making bows and arrows. Older women continue to work the land, as this is seen as a source of independence and economic security. They also carry out trade in the local markets, though not exclusively. In the modern Kikamba family, the women, especially in the urban regions, practice professions such as teaching, medical nursing, secretarial work, management, tailoring etc in accordance with Kenya’s socioeconomic evolution.
Culture and beliefs
Naming is an important aspect of the Akamba people. Children are often affectionately called Musumbi (meaning “king”), and Muthoki/Nthoki (meaning “long awaited one”). Akamba children are named for/after time or events surrounding their birth. For example, Nduku is a name given to a baby girl born at night and Mutuku to a baby boy born at night. Children born when it is raining may be named Mumbua (feminine) or Wambua (masculine). Wild animal names like Nzoka (snake), Mbiti (hyena) were used on special circumstances, to children born of mothers who started by giving stillbirths. This was done to wish away the bad omen for the child to survive otherwise it would die like the preceding ones.
Traditionally the Akamba did not name after living ancestors. This tradition has been heavily diluted in contemporary times due to inter ethnic marriages, most commonly those with the Kikuyu who insist on naming after living relatives in a systematic order. Historically, however, the Akamba were a very superstitious people, and to name after a living relative was thought to be a curse upon the living namesake to wish them dead and was heavily frowned upon.
Like the Maasai and the Agikuyu, the Akamba believe in a monotheistic, invisible and transcendental God, Ngai or Mulungu, who lives up in the sky (’yayayani’ or ituni). Another venerable name for God is Asa, or the Father. He is also known as Ngai Mumbi na Mwatuangi(God the creator). He is perceived as the omnipotent creator of life on earth and as a merciful, if distant, entity. The traditional Akamba perceive the spirits of their departed ones, the ‘Aimu’/'Maimu’, as the intercessors between themselves and Ngai Mulungu. They are remembered in family rituals and offerings / libations at individual altars.
The kamba royalty was often not talked about and the history behind the royalty is not well known although the name Mwanzwii is liked with royalty or leadership. Not much is known about this Family or mentioned in any available documentation. Royalty may not be the best term to describe these people. Their role was more of leadership and performance of certain public, social, spiritual or ceremonial functions. They refrained from any involvement in electoral politics or the actual governance of their people. Some royal families have lost their “royalty” through social changes over a long period of time.
Kikamba music
The Akamba people’s love of music and dance is evidenced in their spectacular performances at many events in their daily lives or on occasions of regional and national importance. In their dances they display agility and athletic skills as they perform acrobatics and body movements. The Akamba dance techniques and style resemble those of the Batutsi of Rwanda-Burundi and the Aembu of Kenya.
The following are some of the varieties of traditional dance styles of the Akamba community:
- Mwali (pl: Myali) which is a dance accompanying a song, the latter which is usually made to criticize anti-social behaviour.
- Kilumi and Ngoma, religious dances, performed at healing and rain-making ceremonies;
- Mwilu is a circumcision dance;
- Mbalya, or Ngutha is a dance for young people who meet to entertain themselves after the day’s chores are done.
- Kamandiko’, (Irish or Scottish Ceilidh) or the modern disco usually held after a wedding party.
Dances are usually accompanied by songs composed for the occasion (marriage, birth, nationally important occasion), and reflect the traditional structure of the Kikamba song, sung on a pentatonic scale. The singing is lively and tuneful. Songs are composed satirizing deviant behavior, anti-social activity, etc. The Akamba have famous work songs, such as ‘Ngulu Mwelela’, sung while work, such as digging, is going on. Herdsmen and boys have different songs, as do young people and old. During the Mbalya dances the dance leader will compose love songs and satirical numbers, to tease and entertain his / her dancers.
Clothing and costumery
The Akamba of the modern times, like most people in Kenya, dress rather conventionally in western / European clothing. The men wear trousers and shirts. Young boys will, as a rule, wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts, usually in cotton, or tee-shirts. Traditionally, Akamba men wore leather short kilts made from animal skins or tree bark. They wore copious jewelry, mainly of copper and brass. It consisted of neck-chains, bracelets, and anklets.
The women in modern Akamba society also dress in the European fashion, taking their pick from dresses, skirts, trousers, jeans and shorts, made from the wide range of fabrics available in Kenya. Primarily, however, skirts are the customary and respectable mode of dress. In the past, the women were attired in knee-length leather or bark skirts, embellished with bead work. They wore necklaces made of beads, these obtained from the Swahili and Arab traders. They shaved their heads clean, and wore a head band intensively decorated with beads. The various kilumi or dance groups wore similar colors and patterns on their bead work to distinguish themselves from other groups.
Traditionally, both men and women wore leather sandals especially when they ventured out of their neighborhoods to go to the market or on visits. While at home or working in their fields, however, they remained barefoot.
School children, male and female, shave their heads to maintain the spirit of uniformity and equality.
December 27th, 2009
The Kikuyu are Kenya’s most populous ethnic group. ‘Kikuyu’ is the Swahilized form of the proper name and pronunciation of Gĩkũyũ although they refer to themselves as the Agĩkũyũ people. There are about 5,347,000 Kikuyu people in Kenya (1994 I. Larsen BTL)[1], equal to about 22% of Kenya’s total population[2]. They cultivate the fertile central highlands and are also the most economically active ethnic group in Kenya.
Origins
The ancestors of the Kikuyu can be said with some certainty to have come from the north, from the region of the Nyambene Hills to the northeast of Mount Kenya (Kirinyaga), which was the original if not exclusive homeland of all of central Kenya’s Bantu-speaking peoples, viz. the Meru, Embu, Chuka, Kamba and possibly Mbeere. The people are believed to have arrived in the hills as early as the 1200s.From where they came, though, is a matter subject to a lot of controversy (ie. speculation based on few facts): one theory argues that they came from Axum (Ethiopia) migrating when the Aksumite Empire or Axumite Empire fell another the mythical ‘Shungwaya’, presumably in Somalia, from which the nine tribes of the coastal Mijikenda also say they came. The other main theory posits that they came from the west, having split from the proto-Bantu of central Africa.
Whatever their early origins, it is generally accepted that starting from around the 1500s, the ancestors of the Kikuyu, Meru (including the Igembe and Tigania), Kamba, Embu and Chuka, began moving south into the richer foothills of Mount Kenya. By the early 1600s, they were concentrated at Ithanga, 80 km southeast of the mountain’s peaks at the confluence of the Thika and Sagana rivers.As Ithanga’s population increased, oral traditions of all the tribes agree that the people began to fan out in different directions, eventually becoming the separate and independent tribes that exist today. The theory that the Chuka, Embu, Mbeere, Gicugu and Ndia ‘broke away’ from the main Kikuyu group before arriving at Ithanga is plausible, but is contradicted by the oral traditions of various tribes, many of which include Ithanga in their histories.The Kikuyu themselves moved west to a place near present-day Murang’a, from where the Kikuyu creation myth picks up the story.
Ethnologists believe the Kikuyu came to Kenya from Central Africa together with the other Bantu groups. On reaching present Tanzania, they moved east past Mount Kilimanjaro and into Kenya, finally settling around Mount Kenya, while the rest of the group continued migrating to Southern Africa. They, unlike the Nilotic tribes who were pastoralists, were farmers and began farming the very fertile volcanic land around Mt. Kenya and the Kenyan highlands.However, Kikuyu legends have it that in the beginning, a man called Gikuyu and his wife called Mireia (Mumbi) were placed on Mũkũrwe wa Nyagathanga in present day Murang’a District by God, Mwene Nyaga or Ngai. It was said that they were placed near the Mugumo or Fig tree upon the slopes of the mountain. They gave birth to Nine daughters named,Wanjiku, Wanjirũ, Wangeci, Wambũi, Wangari, Wacera Waithera, Wairimũ and Wangũi. It so happened that when they were grown up, they met nine young men from a distant land, ostensibly Axum, who married the girls and from whom the Kikuyu nation arose. A popular myth claims that when Kikuyu’s daughters came of marrying age, Kikuyu prayed to Mwene Nyaga to provide husbands for their daughters whom he duly provided by a fig tree.
History
Time The Agĩkũyũ had four seasons and two harvests in one year. These were divided as follows 1. Mbura ya njahĩ -The Season of Big Rain] from March to July, 2. Magetha ma njahĩ -The season of the big harvest] between July and Early October. 3. Mbura ya Mwere -Short rain season from October to January. 4. Magetha ma Mwere -the season of harvesting millet.
Kikuyu Expansion
The Kikuyu have always been happy to adapt, in terms of territorial expansion, were by far the most successful of the groups that had originally migrated south from the Nyambene Hills, relying on a combination of land purchases, blood-brotherhood (partnerships), intermarriage with other people, and their adoption and absorption. Only occasionally did warfare figure in this expansion, such as in the early 1800s when a combined Kikuyu, Maasai and Athi force defeated (annihilated?) the hunter-gathering Gumba (or Agumba), a people which one Kikuyu legend refers to as pygmies.The original inhabitants of Kikuyu-land, it is said, were the Thagicu, who practised iron-working, herded cattle and sheep and goats, and hunted. The similarity in name between Thagicu and Gikuyu would suggest that they were in fact the Kikuyu’s earliest known ancestors, if not their primary lineage. They may indeed have been the ‘tenth’ of the ‘fully nine’ clans, though admittedly that that is merely speculation. Sources differ on the ethnic identity of the Thagicu – some say they were Bantu-speaking, others that they came from Cushitic peoples.
As the land was fertile and ideally suited to agriculture, the population increased rapidly, causing further waves of migration which lasted until the eighteenth century: west into the Aberdares (Nyandarua Mountains), south to the present site of Nairobi, and north to the Nyeri plains and the Laikipia Plateau, where the Kikuyu came into contact with the cattle-herding Maasai (who were evicted from the area by the British early in the twentieth century). Unusually in contacts with the Maasai, the Kikuyu were neither conquered nor assimilated by them, but instead engaged in trade (as well as sporadic cattle raiding), which led to a deep and long-lasting social interaction which especially affected the Kikuyu. During the Maasai civil wars at the end of the nineteenth century, hundreds of Maasai refugees were taken in and adopted by the Kikuyu, particularly those in Kiambu.In consequence, Nilotic social traits such as circumcision clitoridectomy and the age-set system, were adopted; the taboo against eating fish was also accepted; and people intermarried, so much so that more than half of the Kikuyu of some districts are believed to have Maasai blood in their veins (including Jomo Kenyatta himself, whose paternal grandmother was Maasai). From other peoples came loanwords for ceremonial dances, plants and animals, and the concept of irrigation as an agricultural technique.
Although the Kikuyu were a formidable fighting force, the agricultural nature of their lives meant that violence was generally only used for defence, for they lacked the mobility of pastoralists such as the Maasai and Samburu, who lived to the north and west.Geographically, the Kikuyu were relatively well protected, with the Ngong Hills so the south, the Nyandarua Mountains to the west, and Mount Kenya to the northeast. To the east, also, were the related Meru, Embu and Kamba people, with whom relations were generally friendly, replying as they did on their trade with the Kikuyu. Defence was thus a primary concern only in the west, where the Kikuyu were wary of settling or venturing out onto open plains for fear of the Maasai, who were interested in controlling the widest possible areas for their herds.Greater defence was necessary only close to the Maasai border, with the result that villages there were in effect forts and were built for maximum protection. Generally, only those family groups (mbari) with “many warrior sons” or which had attracted a clientele of fighting followers could muster the defence necessary to settle these new areas. These villages were also well concealed: Europeans found they could be walking only metres from a settlement without knowing of its existence.
Anti-colonialism
Kikuyu political organisation grew rapidly in the 1920s as a response to social problems, land loss and colonial pressures. In the early forefront against colonial suppression were Mr. Eliud Mathu and Mr. Harry Thuku in 1919. One moderately radical group, the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), was established in the 1920s under the leadership of young, mission-educated members including Jomo Kenyatta. Frustrations, anti-colonialism and internal divisions contributed to the Mau Mau uprising after World War II, fought amongst the Kikuyu central highlands from roughly 1952-1958. This divisive, dirty and violent war which involved bombing the Mau Mau enclaves was fought mainly by guerillas in central Kenyan forests, including Dedan Kimathi among its leaders. Following massive detentions by the British and huge numbers of Kikuyu deaths – mostly from British soldiers and their African loyalist homeguards – the Mau Mau was a major contributor to moves for Kenyan independence. By the end of the rebellion, the British had taken the lives of over 11,000 rebels and detained around 100,000 people under force – in contrast with 200 Europeans and 2,000 Britain-loyal Africans lost lives. Many of the Kikuyu leaders including Jomo Kenyatta, Bildad Kaggia, Kung’u Karumba were imprisoned for lengthy period by the colonialists. Other prominent non-Kikuyu personalities who ere imprisoned include Ochieng Oneko (Luo) and Paul Ngei (Kamba) The Mau Mau war is considered to be the first great African liberation movement and probably the most grave crisis of Britain’s African colonies.[3]
Although the fight for freedom carried many bad memories, it fascinates on how the Mau Mau fighters managed to make nail guns among other crude weapons.
A scene in the 1987 movie The Kitchen Toto, about the Mau Mau uprising, shows a white police chief ordering Kikuyu police officers out of the force, suspecting them of working for the Mau Mau.
Post-independence
Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president, was a Kikuyu. Kenya’s third and current president, Mwai Kibaki is also a Kikuyu. Kibaki won the 2002 elections in a landslide against Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the first president, despite outgoing president Daniel arap Moi’s support for Kenyatta. Wangari Maathai, Africa’s first female Nobel Peace Prize winner, is a Kikuyu, as is the famous Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o, who now writes exclusively in Kikuyu and Swahili. Famous Kikuyu sports personalities include: Julius Kariuki, the 3,000m steeplechase 1988 olympic champion; John Ngugi, 5,000m 1988 Olympic champion; Douglas Wakiihuri, a Nagoya and London Marathon Champion; Catherine Ndereba, the Boston and Chicago marathon champion and Charles Kamathi, the 2001 world champion at 10,000m. Samuel Kamau Wanjiru Kenyan long distance runner who won the 2008 Beijing Olympic men’s Marathon in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32 is also a Kikuyu.
Due to their high population demographic as well as historical and economic reasons, the Kikuyu have continued to play vital roles in independent Kenya’s political and economic development.
Language
Kikuyu speak Kikuyu, a Bantu language, as their native tongue. Additionally, many speak Swahili and English as well, the national and official languages of Kenya respectively. The Kikuyu are closely related to the Embu, Mbeere, Kamba and Meru people who also live around Mt. Kenya. The Kikuyu from the greater Kiambu (commonly referred to as the Kabete) and Nyeri districts are closely related to the Maasai due to intermarriage prior to colonization, The Kikuyu between Thika and Mbeere are closely related to Kamba people, who speak a language almost the same as Kikuyu, being geographical neighbours. Hence the sub-tribes that retain much of the original Kikuyu heritage reside around Kirinyaga and Murang’a regions of Kenya. The Kikuyu from Murang’a district are considered to be more pure, believed to be the cradle of the Kikuyu people.
Religion
Most Kikuyu are Christians, and it is difficult to come across one who professes to be anything else.Yet there are other signs, too, that the old ways have not been completely forgotten. The institution of elder hood may at first sight appear to be defunct, but here too, the Kikuyu have adapted and adopted to the new ways rather than simply discarding the old: it has been estimated that 90% of the Catholic priests in the Nairobi diocese have also been elected as ‘elders’.
Ngai-The Creator
Traditionally, as now, the Kikuyu were monotheists, believing in a unique and omnipotent God whom they called Ngai (also spelled Mogai or Mungai). The word, if not the notion, came from the Maasai word Enkai, and was borrowed by both the Kikuyu and Kamba. God is also known as Mungu, Murungu, or Mulungu (a variant of a word meaning God which is found as far south as the Zambezi of Zambia), and is sometimes given the title Mwathani or Mwathi (the greatest ruler), which comes from the word gwatha, meaning to rule or reign with authority.
Mount Kenya and Religion
Ngai is the creator and giver of all things, ‘the Divider of the Universe and Lord of Nature’. He(God) created the human community,He also created the first Kikuyu communities, and provided them with all the resources necessary for life: land, rain, plants and animals.He – for Ngai is male – cannot be seen, but is manifest in the sun, moon, stars, comets and meteors, thunder and lighting, rain, in rainbows and in the great fig trees (mugumo) that served as places of worship and sacrifice, and which marked the spot at Mukurue wa Gathanga where Gikuyu and Mumbi – the ancestors of the Kikuyu in the oral legend – first settled.
Yet Ngai was not the distant God (as know in the West). He had human characteristics, and although some say that He lives in the sky or in the clouds, kikuyu also said that he come to earth from time to time to inspect it, bestow blessings and mete out punishment(similar to God’s visit of Abraham before destroying Sodom). When he come he rested on Mount Kenya and four other sacred mountains. Thunder was interpreted to be the movement of God, and lightning was God’s weapon by means of which he cleared the way when moving from one sacred place to another.Other people believed that Ngai’s abode was on Mount Kenya, or else ‘beyond’ its peaks. Ngai,one legend, made the mountain his resting place while on an inspection tour of earth. In the account GOD then took the first man, Gikuyu, to the top to point out the beauty of the land he was giving him.
Social structure
According to folklore, the Kikuyu tribe was ruled based on a matriarchal system. During the rule of Wangũ wa Makeeri, a leader who was said to be so fierce she held meetings seated on the backs of men, the men decided to revolt and take over leadership. (Although modern Kikuyu often assume that Wangu was a mythical character, she was in fact one of the first “chiefs” installed by the British at the end of the 19th Century in Murang’a District as a result of her liaison with a more well-known “chief” Karuri wa Gakure.)[4] One version of the story says that the revolution took place when Kikuyu men organized to have all the women dance naked in a Kĩbaata dance. The women refused and the Kikuyu men took the rule to themselves. In another version, the men conspired to make all the women pregnant at the same time. This made them vulnerable and unable to carry out leadership duties. The men then took over leadership- and never let go.
Traditional Political Organisation of the Kikuyu People
The political organisation of the Kikuyu people was closely interwoven with the family and the riika. A young man after initiation through circumcision automatically entered into the National council of junior warriors(njama ya anake a mumo). After 82 moons or 12 rain seasons after the circumcision ceremony the junior warrior was promoted to the Council of senior warriors (Njama ya ita). Together this two councils would be called upon to protect the tribe in case of external aggression. The council of senior warriors was in addition an important decision making organ. The two councils were served by men of 20 – 40 years.Upon marriage a man was initiated into a council called kiama kĩa kamatimo. This was the first grade eldership and it denoted elders who were also warriors. At this stage the man plays the role of observers of senior elders. They are required to assist in proceedings by carrying out menial tasks like skinning animals, being messengers, carrying ceremonial articles or light fires among other tasks.
When a man had a son or a daughter old enough to be circumcised, he was elevated into another council called the council of peace (kiama kĩa mataathi). On entering this council the man was now a man of peace and no longer of the warrior class. He assumed the duty of peace maker in the community.When a man had had practically all his children circumcised, and his wife (or wives) had passed child-bearing age he reached the last and most honoured status. A council known as kiama kĩa maturanguru (religious and sacrificial council). After paying an ewe which was slaughtered and offered in sacrifice to Ngai (God) the man was invested with powers to lead a sacrificial ceremony at the sacred tree (Mũgumũ mũtĩ wa Igongona). The elders of this grade assumed the role of ‘holy men’. They were high priests. All religious and ethical ceremonies were in their hands. In the Agĩkũyũ society the religious, governance and law functions were closely intertwined. With various councils being called upon to perform one of this functions. It is not quite clear whether women also had councils and what functions these councils served. The initiation ceremony seems to have been organized by a council of both men and women.
Parallel to the said councils the family unit formed a council known as ndundu ya mũcie of which the father was the head. The father as the head of the household then represented the family in the next council called kiama kĩa itora (village council) comprising of all the family heads in the village. This was headed by the senior elder. A wider council called kiama kĩa rũgongo (district council) was formed comprising of all the elders from the district. This was presided over by a committee (kiama kĩa ndundu), composed of all the senior elders in the district. Among the senior elders, the most advanced in age was elected as the head and judge (mũthamaki or mũciiri) of the ndundu. The district councils then came together to form the national council. Among the judges, one was elected to head the meetings.
Family Life
The Kikuyu man is referred to as a mũthuuri (meaning someone who can choose or discern evil from good) and the Kikuyu woman is called a mũtumia (meaning someone who retains family secrets and practices). Traditionally, Kikuyu society is polygamous so that means any man could have as many wives as he could afford.
The family lived in a homestead with several huts for different family members. These huts were constructed so that during the cold season the interior would be very warm while in hot season the hut would be cool. The husband’s hut was called ‘thingira’, and that was where the husband would call his children in for instruction on family norms and traditions and he would also call his wives for serious family discussions. Each wife had her own hut where she and her children slept. After boys were circumcised (at puberty) they moved out of their mother’s hut into the young men’s hut.
The husband would invite his age-mates of his riika (age group) to a horn (rũhĩa) of traditional beer (njoohi) called mũratina; an alcoholic drink made from sugar cane and the mũratina fruit.
The Kikuyu had a systematic method of family planning. A father would only have another child with his wife, after her youngest child was at an age where the mother could send them to look after the family’s herd of goats, a practice called (gũthiĩ rũũru). Rũũru is a collection of goats and sheep or commonly referred as herding.
Traditionally the first born boy would be named after his father’s father and the second boy, his mothers father. This is the same with girls, first girl would be named after her father’s mother and the second girl, her mother’s mother. This was because they believed the spirit of the deceased grandparent would carry on to the child, this was no longer as life spans became longer and the grandparent is now usually alive when the grandchild is born.
Culture
Colonization eroded many traditional practices and values, although the language has survived and continues to evolve. Many Kikuyu have moved from their traditional homeland to the cities and around the world to look for opportunities. They have also moved to other parts of the country and the world due to intermarriage, business opportunities, study, and generally seeking better prospects in life. Those living in rural areas tend to continue to practice farming.[citation needed]
In the Kikuyu land there is a very diverse history of how people lived. One is the form of entertainment in those days. The Kikuyu young women and men could travel to isolated areas for dance and feasting. Discipline however was observed and no man was supposed to touch a lady sexually. The young men only enjoyed the dance and they had the chance to mingle with the beautiful young ladies who would eventually become their suitors. Many of the songs they used to dance to are being revived in modern bars and clubs.[citation needed]
The common dances were Nguchu, Nduumo, Mũgoiyo, Gĩchukia and ndachi ya irua (circumcisional dance). The grandmothers had a critical role of checking if any man unwound the inner garment of the young ladies. This garment was called mũthuru. The grandmothers (macũcũ), tied it safely to protect any promiscuity in young women. Women who engaged in sex before marriage, affairs, or got pregnant could only be married as a second wife and were commonly referred to as ‘Gĩchokio’. Therefore the Kikuyu customs valued the chastity of unmarried women and protected young women against abuse. It also ensured some form of entertainment was prepared and young people carried forward the practices from generation to generation
December 25th, 2009
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December 24th, 2009
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December 22nd, 2009
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December 22nd, 2009
