Who Are the Kikuyu? The Jews of Kenya
CENTRAL PROVINCE, Kenya—On the hillsides, tea is still being picked; in the valleys, women still weed rows of beans, feet stained ocher by the soil; and in downtown Nyeri, the matatu taxi vans still honk by custom. The only immediate hint that something is amiss is to be found on the veranda of the Outspan Hotel. Despite boasting one of Africa’s most stunning views—Mount Kenya stretches serenely on the far side of the plains—the Outspan is strangely quiet these days; most of its tourists have fled.
If Kenya is ablaze, it’s almost possible to miss that fact in Central Province. A few hours’ drive west, machete-wielding youths blockade roads, shops have been looted, and refugee camps spring up like mushrooms. At first glance, the country’s most serious crisis since independence has barely dented the banal routines of daily life.There’s a reason for this. Central Province is the home of President Mwai Kibaki—his Othaya constituency lies just south of Nyeri. While his Kikuyu kinsmen have been burned alive and lynched across the rest of Kenya, punished for his suspected rigging of the December elections, only a madman would dare lift a hand to a Kikuyu on his home turf.
But that doesn’t allay a crawling sense of unease. The relationship between the Kikuyu and the rest of Kenya has been warped, residents sense, possibly beyond repair. Nyeri’s inhabitants are haunted by a more immediate fear. Most of the 300,000 people displaced in the violence are Kikuyus. Even as nervous Luos cluster for protection in local police stations, hundreds of Kikuyus are returning, demanding housing, work, and school places. “At the moment people are telling those displaced to stick where they are, because there is great land scarcity here,” says Muthui Mwai, a Nyeri journalist. “No one wants them back.”
Land scarcity is the leitmotif of the Kikuyu, the historic source of their anguish and the motivating force behind their success story. Accounting for around 22 percent of Kenya’s population of 38 million, the Kikuyu’s mark on the East African nation has been far greater than the figures imply, thanks to that driving hunger.
Under Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, another kinsman, they streamed out of Central Province, settling in the Rift Valley and on the coast. Today, they dominate the economy. Kikuyus drive most of Kenya’s matatus and its taxis, run its newspapers, and constitute much of its civil service, their entrepreneurial reach extending from the glitziest of hotels to the remotest roadside duka (kiosk). They also, joke Kikuyus, account for the biggest share of the country’s criminals and prison inmates.
Mzee Jomo Kenyatta & Golda Meir
The Kikuyu story, legend has it, begins on a ridge north of the town of Muranga, south of Nyeri, amid the misty valleys carved by Mount Kenya’s melting snows. To the precolonial Kikuyu, Mount Kenya, known as Kirinyaga, was the seat of God, or Ngai. Ngai created Gikuyu—the first man—then pointed earthward. “Build your homestead where the fig trees grow,” he said. Later, he sent Mumbi to join him, and the couple established the 10 clans that constitute “the house of Mumbi,” as the Kikuyu are also known.
You can actually visit this Kikuyu version of the Garden of Eden. Behind a sky-blue gate, painted with the words Mukurwe Wa Nyagathanga—the Tree of Gathanga—lie two mud huts, one for Gikuyu and one for Mumbi. The site looks toward Kirinyaga, but the mountain, famously elusive, is usually shrouded in cloud.
The compound may be an officially designated historical monument, but it looks semineglected. The skeleton of a half-built hotel, abandoned when a shady contractor disappeared with the funds—”This, too, is part of our culture,” jokes a villager—drips water nearby. In my many trips there, I’ve never stumbled on another visitor. “It’s not our way to look backward, only forward,” explains my Kikuyu driver.
The farming community that fanned out from this site had a special affinity with the soil. “There is a great desire in the heart of every Gikuyu man to own a piece of land on which he can build his home,” Kenyatta wrote in Facing Mount Kenya. “A man or a woman who cannot say to his friends, come and eat, drink and enjoy the fruit of my labour, is not considered as a worthy member of the tribe.”
It was this affinity that brought the Kikuyu into conflict with the British Empire. Initially, Britain’s 19th-century explorers showed little interest in the area that would be designated “Kenya,” training their eyes instead on the Buganda kingdom across Lake Victoria. Central Province’s fertile valleys were simply the place to stock their caravans with fresh food before the long trip west.
But with time, Kenya itself became the draw. Most of the land that British settlers appropriated belonged to the nomadic Masai, not the Kikuyu, but it was the Kikuyu who led an armed insurrection, Mau Mau, in the 1950s. With their fast-growing population, the Kikuyu needed room to expand. The British had removed that possibility by farming the White Highlands. British Capt. Richard Meinertzhagen claimed to have seen what was coming. “They are the most intelligent of the African tribes that I have met; therefore they will be the most progressive under European guidance and will be the most susceptible to subversive activities,” he wrote.
Mau Mau has left its scars, psychological if not physical. At least 150,000 Kikuyus passed through British detention camps, and more than 20,000 Mau Mau fighters died in combat. Central Province’s residents can still point out the caves where the freedom fighters hid and sketch the location of the British prisons and scaffolds where they were executed—in Nyeri’s case, on what is now the golf club’s parking lot.
Seeking scapegoats in that turbulent past, many older inhabitants insist today’s troubles are the work of a British government that has never forgiven the Kikuyu their revolt. Now the Brits are supposedly the hidden hand behind Luo leader Raila Odinga’s opposition campaign. “This is not a war between Kenyans, it’s a war imported from abroad,” fumes Joseph Karimi, co-author of The Kenyatta Succession. “The British were not satisfied with the rule of the Kikuyu, so they brought in this war. They never actually left Kenya and they never intend to.”
If the British won the fight against Mau Mau, the Kikuyu won the peace. When Britain pulled out in 1963, it was Kenyatta, once jailed as a Mau Mau leader, who became president, his community that took pole position. Forced proximity with the colonial administration and the proliferation of missionary schools in Central Province meant the Kikuyu were better educated than other Kenyans and best placed to benefit from independence. What’s more, they enjoyed the president’s patronage. “My people have the milk in the morning, your tribes the milk in the afternoon,” Kenyatta told non-Kikuyu ministers who complained.
The Kikuyu, outsiders feel, have been rubbing other communities’ noses in their pre-eminence ever since. “We’re obnoxious, we’re thrusting, we’re loud, and we’re everywhere,” acknowledges a Kikuyu banker friend. “Our problem is there aren’t enough of us to dominate, yet we’re too large to ignore. We are at once both obnoxious and indispensable.”
Although Kenyatta’s successor, Daniel arap Moi, systematically crushed Kikuyu aspirations while promoting his own Kalenjin, the community still thrived economically. Hence the conviction, voiced by snarl-toothed elders and fresh-faced undergraduates alike in Central Province, that only the Kikuyu—the community that stood up and defied the white invader—deserve to run the country.
I hear the familiar refrain in a hotel bar in Muranga, whose wall, significantly, is decorated with framed photographs of Kenyatta and Kibaki, but not of Moi. “If you did an experiment and took five Luos, five Luhyas, five Kambas, and five Kikuyus and gave them money to invest, you would see the result,” boasts John Kiriamiti, who publishes a Muranga newspaper. “The Kikuyu would be far, far ahead.” His business partner, Njoroge Gicheha, chimes in. “You cannot compare a fisherman in Nyanza who simply pulls a fish from the lake to a farmer who plants beans in Central Province and waits six months to harvest. The fact is, we work harder than other Kenyans.”
It’s this bumptious sense of entitlement that infuriates Kenya’s 47 other tribes. But, with the exception of two bouts of ethnic cleansing in the 1990s, irritation was largely held in check under Moi, a topic of good-natured banter rather than abuse.
That changed with the 2002 elections that first put Kibaki in power. A consensus candidate backed by a broad tribal coalition, he swiftly reneged on promises of a new constitution devolving power to the regions. The pledge of a prime minister’s post for Odinga, the man who probably lost December’s elections, was withdrawn. As the tribal coalition disintegrated, Kenyans noticed that key ministries were all held by members of what they dubbed “the Mount Kenya Mafia.” Far from challenging Kenyatta’s system of ethnic favoritism, Kibaki reinforced it.
While Western donors relished Kibaki’s 6 percent to 7 percent growth rates, the mood on the ground was grim. The fact that Central Province’s milk, tea, and coffee industries surged ahead while other regions remained marginalized did not go unnoticed.
Both sides helped whip low-level ethnic resentment into today’s frenzied hatred.
Odinga raised the stakes by preaching majimboism. Majimboism means federalism, a system many might think well-suited to over-centralized Kenya. But to Odinga’s supporters, it was a code word for something very specific: Kikuyus with plots or businesses in non-Kikuyu areas would be forced out and sent “home.”
In Central Province, Kikuyu MPs seized on the majimboist threat to foster a siege mentality. Rumors of a project to slaughter 1 million Kikuyus circulated like wildfire. “The amount of fear-mongering [texts] and e-mails was stupendous,” says Kwamchetsi Makokha, a columnist for the Nation newspaper. “It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you set the stage where a single community has isolated itself, what follows is a feeling of resentment by others, of ‘what’s so special about you?’ “
There was nothing random about the violence that exploded with the announcement of a Kibaki win. Deciding that the Kikuyu intended to rule Kenya indefinitely, Luos in the Western town of Kisumu looted Kikuyu shops, while Kalenjin militias drove Kikuyus from Rift Valley farms, settling scores dating back to Kenyatta’s 1970s settlement scheme.
A feared Kikuyu militia, the Mungiki, is now extracting revenge. But as mungiki demand ID cards at roadblocks and members of the “wrong” tribe watch homes go up in smoke, majimboism is being put into crude practice on the ground, decades of Kikuyu expansionism challenged and reversed
Many analysts see the entrepreneurship that defines the Kikuyu experience as the only hope for peace. Holding such a huge stake in the Kenyan economy, the Kikuyu have more to lose from the spiraling anarchy than any other group.
Here in Central Province, a region locked in belligerent memories of its insurgent past, there is little talk of compromise and no criticism of Kibaki. Growing ever further into a kikuyu nationalism, James Wanyaga, Nyeri’s former mayor, told me. “We can forget about the Luos and put our security machinery into Rift Valley, just as your people did under colonialism. And we would get on very well.” The price of Kikuyu hegemony has already proved greater than anyone wants to pay.
House of Mumbi
The comparison of Kikuyus to the Jews may sound like a mere joke; however, a closer look into the migratory myths of the Kikuyus to their current location may actually confound many.
History has it that the Kikuyus like other Bantu groups migrated from the West Africa. However, the history is not very clear how the Kikuyu people eventually settled on the area around Mount Kenya. More so, history suggest that the Kikuyus followed the same migratory route that other Bantu groups followed, that is along the great lakes via mount Kilimanjaro down to the coast. That route does not make sense of how actually Kikuyus eventually settled on the foot of Mt. Kenya.
However, some Kikuyu migratory tales as narrated by the earlier generations seams to indicate that the Kikuyus may actually have migrated to their current location from a place called Axum in Ethiopia.
it is said that after the break up of Axum, the kikuyus migrated southwards together with the covenant and hid it on Mt. Kenya, that is why they normally regarded Mt. Kenya as a seat for their God.It is a well known fact that the ancient Axum Empire was occupied by group of communities which had blood relationship with the Jews through the famous queen of Sheba. More so, the southward migration from Axum to the eventual current settlement at the foot of Mt. Kenya appears to make more sense than the West, Southwards and then Northward kind of movement.
Kikuyus thirst for Business and investment is not only restricted to the Kenyan Borders, their business acumen stretches across the world. Including, far flung places such as USA, S.Africa, United Kingdom etc.
Kikuyus have no raw desire for power the only reason why they wish to control political happenings is to ensure that the entrepreneur spirit in them is not dampened by careless and un -favorable policies or poor governance.
Anthony
February 12, 2008 at 2:26 PM
History
The predominant oral tradition concerning the Meru’s early history is a fantastic fable that seems to combine elements of both truth and fiction and has close parallel to Jewish mythology
Taken as a whole, the Meru have one of the most detailed and potentially confusing oral histories and mythology of any people in Kenya. It is also one of the most deeply intriguing, at least from a western point of view, as it contains extremely strong Biblical similarities that suggest to some that they may once have been one of the lost tribes of Israel, and to others that they were once Jewish, in the same way that the Falashim of Ethiopia remain Jewish to the present day. This history includes a good part of both Old and New Testament stories: a baby in a basket of reeds who becomes a leader and a prophet, the massacre of newly born babies by an evil king, an exodus, the parting and crossing of the waters by an entire nation, Aaron’s Rod in the form of a magic spear or staff, the leadership of a figure comparable to Moses, references to ancient Egypt (Misiri), and so on.
In brief, it recounts that the Meru were once enslaved by the “Red People”. They eventually escaped, and in their exodus came across a large body of water called Mbwaa or Mbwa, which they crossed by magical means. The details of the tradition are replete with parallels to the Old Testament, and also contain references to events described in the New Testament. This has led many to speculate that the Meru are perhaps the descendants of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, or that they were once Jewish, or had been in profound cultural contact with a people that certainly were (such as the Falashim of Ethiopia).
Considerable if inconclusive anthropological research has been conducted and documented with respect to this startling aspect of Meru Mythology. The book by Jeffrey Fadiman “When We Began There Were Witchmen” deals with this subject.
Other interpretations of Meru history incorporates aspects of Meru mythology and spans about three centuries. There are no written records for the first two centuries and what may be learned must come from memories of the community’s elders. The predominant tradition has to do with a place called Mbwa. This tradition tells how the Meruan ancestors were captured by the Nguuntune (the “red people”, literally the “red clothes”, generally taken to mean the Arabs) and taken into captivity on the island of Mbwa. Because conditions were intolerable, secret preparations were made to leave Mbwa. According to some oral tradition sources was located in present day Yemen. Others identify Mbwa with Manda Island near Lamu and the water as the ocean channel. When the day came to leave Mbwa, a corridor of dry land is said to have been created for the people to pass through the Red Sea. They later followed a route that took them to the hills of Marsabit, eventually reaching the Indian Ocean coast. There they stayed for some time; however, due to climatic conditions and threats from the Arabs, they traveled farther south until they came to the Tana River basin. Most traditions say most went as far south as Tanzania until finally reaching the Mount Kenya area. This seems to combine two separate myths of origin from different segments of Meru history, one from the north and another from the east. The eastern origin tradition indicates westward migration from the coast. This correlates with traditions of other Bantu peoples like the Giriama and the Pokomo. The Meru people have traditionally been considered to be Bantu. The Meru are actually of mixed origin, with some claiming an origin from the north or west, as well as the coastal origins. Cushites referred to as Mwoko in Meru traditions were already living there when the Bantu groups arrived in various stages of migration. The Meru are share many similarities with the Embu, and Kikuyu as well.
Anthony
February 14, 2008 at 12:54 PM
I have actually heard this story in ADDIS ABABA. People there believe that Kkuyus descended from one of the Ethiopian Tribes that moved south. However more research is needed.
S M Mugwe
February 17, 2008 at 7:15 PM
The truth is Kirinyaga(kenya in colonial )language is the origin of humanity. Consider the bibilical verse that talks of the land that is divided by flowing water- actaully central province. The Agikuyu are the only people who have no paintings to show their GOD or any of their prophets, the only people never to have worshipped any carving or a creation under the son prior to the coming of the white man’s confusion.
Mugo wa NJUguini
February 18, 2008 at 8:23 AM
Consider this scenario:
The original inhabitants of area of Africa below Equator from the time of Jesus Christ were cushites namely :
Thagichu, Segechu, Athi, San, Khosan of SA, Elmolo, Ogieks, Il Chamus, Irqaw of TZ, Twa of Rwanda: All these were hunter gatherers.
The one branch of the main body of Bantus (the people) moved east from Congo towards Uganda, Rwanda , etc and mingled with local Cushites (Tutsi, Twas) but were ‘’swallowed” by Bantus and lost their language. Others mingled with Nilotes eg Luhya & Kisii around L. Victoria:
The other branch moved down south and east (kikuyu & Kamba etc) and mingled ( that’s why the Kikuyu & kamba are fairer in complexion) with local Cushites (Athi, Thagichu) etc but were ‘’swallowed” by Bantus and lost their language. That’s a fact
Remember at this time there was a huge Axumite Kingdom stretching from Arabian Peninsula to Mt Kenya ( and probably upto Southern Africa : The Great Zimbabwean ruins have middle eastern architecture which baffles historians to this day). Hence the Bantus most likely intermingled with the middle eastern people and influenced or were influenced by them. That why the Somalis and Ethiopians are darker in complexion as you move further away from the Red sea. That’s a fact
The other branch moved further south to SA and mingled with local Cushites (San, Khaosan) but were ‘’swallowed” by Bantus and lost their language. Hence the Zulus , Batswanas and other Bantus of SA fairer in complexion. Etc etc etc……
The argument here is that there was/ and still is a lot of influence on each other’s culture and not straight movements of a body of people as the European Educated Anthropologist would like us to believe. I stand to be corrected of course.
Pitts Njoro
February 21, 2008 at 5:36 PM
Can you start another thread where we can contribute on the way forward after this crisis, I believe this crisis has deeply awoken the Kikuyu pride after many years of being asked to keep it low.
JJ
March 1, 2008 at 1:12 AM
Many things in kikuyu traditions compare to jewish and arabic tradition are the same.
don
March 3, 2008 at 8:11 PM
i have always known there was a connection between us(Gikuyu)and the jews, but the most important thing is for us to believe in Jesus who was a great descendant of King David.
kiarie wa njoroge
March 4, 2008 at 4:07 AM
Anon
March 7, 2008 at 7:44 PM
the good book says blessed are the children of jacob who live below abassynia and risen their flag on top the mountain.
we the cohenian
March 24, 2008 at 3:44 AM
from father to son to son 100 times over for ever cohen
we the cohenian
March 24, 2008 at 3:48 AM
Thagichu Andu wa Kuwa
Wondered why you feel that you have an extra attribute to your exsitance ?
For over 1700 years there has been a foe working against your very exsitance as one of the lost tribes of Judea.
About 30% if not more carry the Cohenic gene, the gene passed down from father to son (”KOHEN” priestly- Abraham to Isaac to Jacob down to Aroon brother to Moses )Fact referance Lemba-Bubba,Iboga,thagichu and many others, infact they say as many 10 different tribes scattered all around africa with monolithic Simetic traditions exist( 10 tribes of Judea),fact is the peoples of lemba have a clan called Bubba with a Conhenic gene type that is more proment that any present Jew anywhere in the world these Yemenites Jews from Yemen/Shabba of Abassynia moved to Zimbabwe as the last known exodus to zion they carried with the knowledge of the ark of the covenant NGOMA NEGUVO “NGOMA LENGUVO” the Vioce of God or the Thundering Vioce of God.
The good news is your lineage to Yacob Cannot, will not, ever, be dissolve so long there is father to seed a son. From Father to Son to Son 100 times over for ever cohen.
GAIKENO NE KUMENYA THAKAME YA JESSO NGAII ETHEENIE YA NGORO YAKUWA HENDE YOTHEE HALELUJAH! HALELUJAH!
THAIYO,SALAAM,SHALOMM
NJAMA MUNGIKII- MURU WA NJEHA
we the cohenian
March 24, 2008 at 6:41 AM
…Deleted ………………we promote free speech but does not promote idle unintelligent comments”
khalid
March 25, 2008 at 8:38 PM
EDUCATE YOUR MINDS:
Without MUCH effort I have to say the kikuyu are disliked by the other tribes of Kenya even to those we shear the same linage of thagichu.
That having said this, I not lay claim to know beyond what I can not see.
This is what I see though, in a snap short.
With all the information out there and acceptance of today’s technology we continue to deny the truth meaning, truth still remains truth even if the whole world comes together to deny the bases of it.
We are Who we are.
Yes.
yahuod
I can help to wonder, what if the our places where reversed, and the kikuyu where a minority in a different part of Kenya leaving in different demographical situation and from what we know. Invoke the Luo or the pokot or even the kalenjin in our place with the same mind set that we have would they be as impartial to criticism rape ,insult ,killings and displacement, and after all that is said and done remain passive and acceptant to their brothers? Without using the partial powers they control i.e. army, police, militias ,vigilantes or any form of oppression to exert revenge.
Truly only people with Gods grace can perform such control.
Having established this is true and truth is truth irreversibly GOD. Know this and embrace it as truth that can not be changed.
We are Who we are
Agekoyo, Ndia, Gichugu, Mathira
http://www.haruth.com/JewsLemba.html
http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/kamba/index.htm
http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/kikuyu/index.htm
http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/meru/index.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/israel/familylemba.html
A LION AWEAKENED
March 26, 2008 at 5:53 PM
khalid you need to move beyond insults and get to reason, intelligence and comprehension
samawati njeri
March 27, 2008 at 7:11 PM
EDUCATE YOUR MINDS:
Without MUCH effort I have to say the kikuyu are disliked by the other tribes of Kenya even to those .
A LION AWEAKENED
March 28, 2008 at 4:40 AM
interesting article i must say i cant believe i hadn’t been on this blog .it would be interesting to read more research on this perceived links btw jews and kikuyus
Kanini
April 7, 2008 at 7:50 PM
We Agikuyu are not jews. Modern Ashkenazi & Sephardic Jews claim the cultural heritage of ancient Afro-Asiatic peoples of the Mid-East known as Hebrews or Haribu. These original Asiatic Black people originated between the nile and Eritrea and expanded to Arabia over thousands of years. Culturally & economically they intermingled with their kin in Ethiopia proper(Eth, Sudan, Somali, Knya) as they did with Indo-European invaders.
Now that we all follow religous systems which exalt the modern jews Africans want to claim that we are them. We are not. We are the origin of them! Genetically & culturally.
The Agikuyu are decendants of The Bantu Peoples of the East African classical age who were descended from the Ancient Saharan & Niger-Congo civilizations who moved east and mixed with the Southern Cushites.
The Bantu element is represented by the daughters of Gikuyu & Mumbi while the Cushite element is represented by the men that apeared under the Mugumo tree after our fathers prayers in our origin myth……We have our own ancient history no need to claim that of a white man.
Njuguna
April 8, 2008 at 10:57 PM
i want to believe that this talk of the Kikuyus and the Jews need some reaserch in it. However i’am baffled with the great similarities therein and the nature of the tribal intelligence that seems very much corellated. The jewish aspects pf the kikuyu people are in perfect semblance,worship ,rituals,prophetic voices and the profets, ceremonies ,practicea an the societal discipline rhymes the O.T concepts.Of great regard is the Nameology which gives such names like “Kabiru” similar to Jews and probably for the event of raising from the dead,Lazarus would be “Kariuki”-raised from the Dead.
Peter Kariuki -presbyterian University,Kikuyu.Kenya
April 19, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Actually,I heard November last year about a once every 50 year ceremony at MT.Kenya to conduct prayers.Apparently in the 1200s a migration from Axum in Ethiopia,landed there with a church artifact,due to war.
At the same time I’ve noticed quite a number of us and Tutsis,Banyankoles,Maasaais and Kambas resemble Gurages,Boranas,Burjis,Somalis and occasionally Habesha women. Jews however have been marrying their first cousins for 5000 years,somebody called Kevin McDonald ,an evolutionary psychologist wrote a fascinating paper on how their paranoid schizophrenia is inbred.
Kiarie
May 9, 2008 at 7:26 AM
I’m a young man in his 20’s and as urbanized as you can imagine so I wouldn’t have known much about our (KIKUYU) culture however about 3 years back, while visiting my relatives in central, I got to learn some very old kikuyu ways of life that resembled Mosaic Laws. i.e the kikuyus had a sorjourner’s granary (ikumbi ria mugendi), the ululation of the kikuyu women (aririririi aririririi) and the ancient praise that was uttered by Jewish women (el ly el ly el ly
/praise him praise him), it was well known in the entire kikuyu land(this inc. Embu and Meru) that when harvesting one was not supposed to go back to collect what fell on the ground it was to be left
for the one without a harvest, I learned that the proto kikuyu were called ‘kabiru’, that wasapere used to circumcize there boys in 8 days after birth however this changed when they began to inter-marry with the Maasai, but most intriging was the description I got of the traditional teachings “KIRIRA”. After researching I can now tell that the nature of kirira resembles that of mystical Jewish teachings KABBALAH. Naturally the kabala began with Avraham(Abraham), it was handed down oraly until when it was first put to writing in the 18th century by jewish Rabii’s
same thing applies to Kirira to date it is ONLY handed down oraly,
I learned that the proto-kikuyu vowed to keep their identity a secret as they sought to protect their identity as they had forght the Templers before settling around Mt. Kenya and surrounding it, this explains why slave trade never took place in this region for they were totaly hostile to the whiteman (shoba)…………. theres more though on my research
Mucera Mbogo
May 18, 2008 at 4:03 PM
In 1999 and 2002 i went to preach in Addis Ababa.In 2004 I wnt to Gonder in Northern Ethiopia and ministered to the Ethiopian Jews.When I was there they kept on telling me that I belong to a certain generation in theie lineage.Did they know something I did not know concerning the kikuyus and the Jews?
Please give me more details.You can send me to my mail.I would be glad.
Pastor Alex Maina
June 11, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Dear blog owner?
Mr Kalid.
Rooaaaah!!!!!!!
A Lion Aweakend
become a man that you claim to be .
we my not agree in views,
but, you do not need to post names if i wanted to remain anonymous
you promise to keep names anonymous.
what happened to privicy laws ?
remember you operate in america… fool.
Do you know what a law suite means?
stop your tactics of fear and innuendos
it has been used on us before time after time,wazunguu,waporagee.
do the facts vex you eah?
dose the truth confuse you.
i have said it before,
the truth will remain true to its core even if the whole world disagrees to it.
it is GOD unreversible for ever true.
i forgive you brother but not forget
i am weary of you.
trust Diminished .
if scare you i am sorry
this blog is more important than you it belongs now to a people.
the Agakuyu.
it is ours
Rooaaah!!!!!
EL SHADDAI, El-ELYON NA ADANIA
GOD
age to age you are still the same
i am who i am forever cohen
from father to son 100 time over
A LION AWEAKEND
June 13, 2008 at 5:49 PM
I just stumbled on this site. And…, man Oh don’t guys just love yourselves? So now you are the ‘original’ jews? LOL
Kip
June 13, 2008 at 9:13 PM
The kikuyus for sure are very industriuos, but I also know kikuyus who are as lazy as their arch-rivals from the lake. By the way, it is harder to live by fishing, and fishing communities are some of the poorest the world over, than to survive by farming. Surviving all those waves and night chills are not exactly easy, actually much harder than a shop-owning Kikuyu from Karatina can imagine.
LOL
Kip
June 13, 2008 at 9:18 PM
Seii,
So now you are up your sleeves investingating me? Sorry, I just dont live in your sleeves. I am no louse. But, If you were to know where I am and who I am, you’d be ashamed of what you are saying.
Just because I am using ‘Kip’ doesnt mean I am one man from the valley. Get over it Seii. By the way, Seii, like Tabitha Seii, is Kalenjin, NO?
Kip
June 13, 2008 at 9:25 PM
This has been an interesting read, and I thank all who took their time to contribute. Our story as black people is largely untold and such efforts may just help fill the gap. So I am most grateful for all, and for the fact that I stambled upon this in my search.
However, many assumptions express ignorance of other facts. The worship of one supreme spiritual God – a spirit who creates matter out of nothing – is a feature of may African nations in East Africa, and I like the suggestion that maybe it is the Jews who are descended from us and not the other way out. And this is unlike in West Africa where many gods were worshipped – leading to a rich material culture of images of the said gods. Almost all East Africans don’t have any carvings or images of God. And they never worshipped icons.
I would love somebody to examine the clear development of the concept of the Trinity in traditional Luhyia religion before the coming of the white man. Also, if the Kikuyu are closely descended from the Jews, I wonder why they never developed proper burial rites. The Jews had and still have elaborate burial rites, and I would like to know why these disappeared from the Kikuyu. Customs and traditions around matters of birth and death are usually never lost easily by a people. If they are not there it usually means they never were there in the first place.
As for business acumen, I would like to know if the origin of the missionaries who worked in the Mt Kenya area, and the harsh kind of colonialism the Kikuyu were subjected to, had a role to play. Also does it explain their habit of banding together in politics more than say do the Luhyia? Does the harsh environment around the lands occupied by the Luo on the other side also play a role in their habit of banding together? How about the extreme differences in wealth within the Kikuyu, what explains it?
Further, if Obama was Kikuyu, what reading of history would we be having on this blog? Would it be that he was the reincarnation of King David? Or would it be that he was the reincarnation of General Mathenge as the Ethiopian farmer Lemma Ayeanu was once billed to be?
Is there any possibility of us being Kenyans so that we can judge each other by the content of our character not by the language of our parents? Personally, I love seeing myself as a Kenyan more than as a Luhyia. As a Kenyan I can claim ownership of all the good contained in the peoples of Kenya. But as a Luhyia cut off from the Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba, Kalejin, Maasai, Kisii, etc, I make a very small and miserable bundle. Also, Kenya is large enough for all of us living as equals, but it is too small for any of us dreaming of dominating others. Those who don’t want to belong to Kenya cannot claim the right to live and own property outside their “ancestral” lands. That is why we must very careful pushing certain minute differences at the expense of bigger similarities.
Finally, the saddest fact is that as American’s worry about broken toilets in space we are busy dying of jiggers in our legs. Jiggers don’t seem to care whether or not we are descended from Cain or from Satan. It is as basic as that. So let’s concentrate on what matters and know that we are competing on this planet with others who have put people on the moon and are now reaching for the planets. We will only develop our couintry through science, technology, and innovation… not by proving whether or not we are LOST Jews. It is bad enough to ba a Jew without being lost.
Otherwise, keep up the good debate. I will be back.
Okiya Omtatah Okoiti
June 16, 2008 at 2:20 AM
Okiya,
As a Kalenjin with a Luhya girlfriend, I can see the reason why the western peoples don’t, most times, coalesce around one Luhya politician. They are actually very very many sub-groups, very many indeed that it is virtually difficult for them to unify around any one course at all.
Having said that, I still hold the thesis that the Luhya are a decent people whose values we, as Kenyans, should emulate. They also may, possibly, benefit from a little injection of entrepreneurship. I know, for example, that most students from western studying abroad with scholarship support hardly care to do part time work, preferring instead, to subsist on their stipends.
On the other hand, folks from central and surrounding communities whose members have learnt to like entrepreneurship, compete vigorously with other immigrants including the Chinese, Indians, Brazilians etc for all sorts of jobs available in the market. Given that they had scholarships in the first place, their hard-earned cash, is new found wealth! this is the money being referred locally as ‘remittances from diaspora’. The last time I checked, these monies were so large, even earnings from agricultural exports were lower in comparison.
So what’s my point?
My point is that we are all Kenyans. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but when combined, and if we learn from our different selves, we could become a force to reckon with. Infact we could beat the Chinese, Indians, Brazilians etc in their own game and emerge as a leading force in the world in the next 50 years – if we learn from our strengths and lessons from disasters like what we witnessed earlier o this year after the G.E.
May be I am misplaced, for I have been away from home for a long time , but folks Kenya can still be great, if we care to make it so. Our first salvo? Lets learn from our mistakes and take on our ignorance and poverty as the main enemy within us, not the land, fertile or not. There are far smaller countries right accross the globe that have even far bigger populations but are exceedings their expectations by tackling the twin eveils of ignorance and poverty – and that migt just be our only liberating force in future – taking on our own ignorances and limited resources and improving them, bit by bit, just like the Chinese and Japnaese. These two nations have not much minerals but are leading everyone in the world. Lets wake up and change our world!
Will be back
That’s my challenge to all Kenyans.
Kipleso
June 16, 2008 at 2:50 AM
This was a very good read, and like many I agree that there is a lot to do in terms of research.
I’m a proud Kikuyu, but I don’t think it’s polite making fellow Kenyans look inferior. We all have our histories which we are proud of. Being in the midst of my friends does not make me feel any superior because I’m a Kikuyu, I just feel very ….. Kenyan, and patriotic.
I’ll defend Kenya anywhere I go, very proudly, but I doubt I’ll do that when it’s an issue of tribes.
Maua
June 17, 2008 at 12:00 AM
will need to read it again
grandmaster masese
June 18, 2008 at 9:05 PM
this is a situation where the bible is just a messenger and not a historic entity. Jewish history has nothing to do with Bantu culture. Bantu pratice predate that of Jewish pratice, and Jews themselves are people who have borrowed from Africa and Asia to construct their way of life. So why the need to dig deep into an abyss when the truth of your Origins are right next to you. Look to Congo 250 tribes and people who are unified by a Bantu culture. Of all place in Africa this place and people are the predecessor of all who reside south and east of them. The Congo has people who are Bantu and naturally light in complexion. Complexion does not stray you from being a bantu in congo, for example one tribe the Luba vary in skin tone, looks and hieght varaitions, some are farmers, ranchers, and miners but are not claiming a Jewish origin or a solomoniod link to their history they are proud to call themselves luba and proudly claim a bantu origin. Why is it hard for the Kikuyu to acknowledge their roots. The somali bantu press on their tanzanian and mozambiquean roots. Bantu groups in Tanzania are found in Congo. Swahili before reaching kenya or before the arabinazation policy that made Zanzibarian swahili standard was spoken as a bantu trade language between the people of katanga, Kivu and tanzania, and till this day you can hear the language spoken in it pure bantu form in Congo without the borrowed persian, arab, portuguese nature that lays people to question the language origin. What does one gain from buttering a bread when jelly is already spread on it? it sad in africa that one must butter his origin to feel better about themselves.
Suagkro Ubango
July 5, 2008 at 8:04 AM
As africans,let learn to be proud to be africans.Who are jews anyway?Why jews cant be of kikuyu origin?Entrepreunership is not ethnic-specific.It is a learning by doing process.Nobody is born with a company on his back.You have to learn and work hard to get it.The problem with us africans is that we think that non africans(whites,asians……) are smarter than us.That why we feel proud if we are called “african jews”,”african chineses”…….Let us be clear:The african culture preexisted all cultures in the world.If jews are the “chosen people” why did life on earth started in africa?Lets not be stupids.Lets unite,work hard and change the destiny of the black race
kossinaa
July 23, 2008 at 12:05 AM
I dont think I was anti-semitic in any way.I am just sick and tired of all these africans who claim all kinds of origins.Kikuyus are jews,Tutsis are jews,Igbo are jews…….I dont see chineses or indians claiming to be jews because they are succesful in business or in academics.Bamilekes of cameroun are far more economically efficient than kikuyus and tthey dont call themselves jews or whatever.They are prouds to be africans and bantus.And the kikuyus “succes” in business can also be questionned considering the fact there is no Kikuyu billionnaire or there are no big companies owned by kikuyus.By the way,I am not kenyan so I cant be accused of anything wrong intentions.
kossinaa
July 23, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Peace and love to all africans sisters and brothers.Dont let foreigners divide us.We are the most beautiful race on earth and we can achieve anything in the world.Islam,judaism ,christianity are all foreign religions.We should not be fighting each other because of these religions.Arabs are killing africans in dartfour,jews and israel were the among the biggest backers of the racist afrikaners in SA,europeans enslaved us,etc………That is to say it does not make sense to try to fit in with these people.Africans we are,africans we will always be
Mwana_congo
July 26, 2008 at 11:19 PM
Being Jewish means being governed by God, God blessed Jacob after the wrestle. If you need supernatural blessings wrestle with God.
JOSHUA
July 30, 2008 at 5:09 PM
Blessed be the people of Israel.I dont know whether we are related to the jew, but i know that all is well with those who choose to follow NGAI in his teachings.We are the tribe for he gave them the right to become sons those who accepted him.Now could someone enlighten me on the rumour of the ‘militia’ following the teaching of the old testamest.do they know something i don’t.they speak of going back to or roots.That raises a very big question??????.dont you think.
legend
August 4, 2008 at 3:55 PM
the comparison can be made between many cultures and the Jewish one. Quite often similarities will be found in one or more cultural practice of the Jewish people and the particular ethnic group. It is important to read studies comparing peoples of the far east, Iran, Afgahistan, and India with the Jews.
The matter of the genotype of the Kohen priesthood is well documented, and there are no studies proving that the Kikuyu males carry this genetic marker.
As one blogger noted, being Jewish is the hardest calling on earth. Please invest in proper research before making claims that are not proven.
JANE
August 18, 2008 at 9:08 PM
Lets stop being silly:There is nothing special with being jew.If kikuyus are jews,what are they doing in kenya?Why dont emigrate to the “promise land” of israel?Because of nazis crimes against the jews,today jews behave as if the world owes them something.But jews sold blacks,killed blacks,etc….and jews never experienced the level of racism experienced by blacks in america and europe.Because christianity comes from judaism,Jews think they can bullshit and blackmail whites europeans.But blacks have nothing to do with nazism and all these semitic religions(judaism,islam,christianity) have nothing to do with african culture.Jews are the white god “chosen people” and only stupid africans bow down to them
easy_peezee
August 22, 2008 at 2:17 AM
Hi Everyone,
Yes the Kikuyu could be one of the lost tribe of Israel
I have read with interest the piece which connects the Kikuyu with the Jews and I have seen some support and resentment it has met. I do not know if we, the Kikuyu are the Jews of Africa but from the few books i have read about our ancient history, it is highly possible. First and foremost, unlike the histories of other tribes in kenya, the history of the mt. kenya communities, specifically the kikuyu, is obscure when we go back in time beyond the 15th century.
A research done by a historian , Kabeca, has already established that some key parts of the mt. kenya communities migrated from the ethiopian highlands thro’ the dry scrubland into the east of mt. kenya at a place called ‘micii mikuru’ near the nyambene hills. However, some others like the meru and the Mbeere seem to have come from the coast which means they must have sojorned there for some time. How they came to the coast is what confuses the historians some claiming they came from the south. This northward movement is highly questionable as more than 90% research works have shown that the general african movements has always been southwards along the coast for centuries.
Another researcher, montegomery, has shown that the two rivers connecting the indian ocean with the Ethiopian highlands always provided the ancient highways through somalia and have been in use for a long time and could have been used by the Meru and the Mbeere to access the coast.
One thing readers should know is that during this times of migration from ethiopia, the ethiopian higlands were going thro’ serious famine conditions that would last for more than 5 years e.g. famine conditions that occured between AD 1400 to 1410, 1530 to 1540, the 1620’s, the 1730’s…etc. This consides wth the period when large groups of mt. kenya communities migrated fromt ethiopia and there is now no doubt about it.
But one of the most interesting part of the history is the inclusion of an ancient kingdom in Ethiopia called Axum. Axum existed between about AD 250 and 1000 but was gradually replaced by Zagwe dynasties until AD 1200 when Axum ceased to exist completely. At its height about AD 300 to about 750 it covered most of northen Ethiopia and the modern day Eriteria.
Just like the Kikuyu, the Axumites were good farmers. The Axumites were also good businessmen. Even in bad drought and famine conditions, trade was always thriving. In fact, one Roman geographer described Axum was one of the 3 most important trading centres in the world at the time. Another important thing is that Axum was lead by a black race and from ancient records showed that kings were great leaders (who did not show any ‘expansionism’ exceopt thro’trade). Could this have been the Kikuyu???
Also note that from an excerpt from the Falashas of Ethiopia the following gives a little more light;
“In the 9th century AD, there was a man named Eldad ha-Dani who was a Jewish merchant and traveler and came and went to the Jewish communities of Babylonia, North Africa, and Spain. He left a record of his travels which constitute more legend than fact, but this stirred many people’s interest. Eldad claimed that he was a merchant and scholar from an independent Jewish state that was situated in East Africa. He declared categorically that his country was the home of the Lost Tribes of Asher, Gad, Naphtali, and Dan, and that he himself was from the Tribe of Dan. His name ha-Dani means the Tribe of Dan in Hebrew. Eldad mentions that in ‘Kush’ of East Africa which is today’s Ethiopia live a lot of descendants of the tribe of Dan and other tribes of Israel. It is interesting to note that still in the 20th century AD there live a Jewish group called Falashas of Ethiopia….”
Also note this from Mugwe in another link;
“I have actually heard this story in ADDIS ABABA. People there believe that Kkuyus descended from one of the Ethiopian Tribes that moved south. However more research is needed.”
History continues to say that there was a great famine in the land about AD 1200 and a great upheaval visited Ethiopia and adjacent lands. Endemic fighting and insecurity forced Populations to leave Ethiopia moving southwards-where one of them was the Kikuyu. In Ethiopia, economic activities came down and trading almost ceased-probably due to the trading communities having moved away… Do you see the connection??
I can go on and on and on. Please read the Kenya times of 19th November 2007 if you can find it, it contains some of the stories i have just given you, on 2 full pages by a man called Kamitha-the mt. Kenya SEERs spokesman. A story of how the kikuyu moved from Hakumu (Axum) to mt. Kenya about AD 1210 and why the Mt. Kenya people were not exposed to the outside world for about 700 years. While other communities were being sold enmass as slaves during the period, the Kikuyus were not. Why?? Read the pages and know why GOD favours them! It is a must read for all Mt. Kenya people.(Please note that only Kenya Times published the story: All others refused to do so. That is why the story is little known.)
NDICHU2002
NDICHU2002
September 1, 2008 at 7:11 PM
simple statement.
if there was EVEN aNY REMOTe connection between JEWS and Kikuyus, guess what?, Israel would have developed links with them.
After all, the FALASHASA of Ethiopia (and a few in Sudan, Somalia and Djiboitu) to this day continue to be AIRLIFTED back to Israel.
Sorry. that seer is just mis-prophecizyng biblical terms that he reads every day.
Upuzi tele
September 8, 2008 at 2:50 AM
The Kalenjin Worrior
September 16, 2008 at 10:22 AM
I can go on and on and on. Please read the Kenya times of 19th November 2007 if you can find it, it contains some of the stories i have just given you, on 2 full pages by a man called Kamitha-the mt. Kenya SEERs spokesman. A story of how the kikuyu moved from Hakumu (Axum) to mt. Kenya about AD 1210 and why the Mt. Kenya people were not exposed to the outside world for about 700 years. While other communities were being sold enmass as slaves during the period, the Kikuyus were not. Why?? Read the pages and know why GOD favours them! It is a must read for all Mt. Kenya people.(Please note that only Kenya Times published the story: All others refused to do so. That is why the story is little known.)
NDICHU2002
Actually Ndichu2002 that story was in the People of November 9th 2007.I checked KT of 16-18th with no luck.
In 1999 and 2002 i went to preach in Addis Ababa.In 2004 I wnt to Gonder in Northern Ethiopia and ministered to the Ethiopian Jews.When I was there they kept on telling me that I belong to a certain generation in theie lineage.Did they know something I did not know concerning the kikuyus and the Jews?
Please give me more details.You can send me to my mail.I would be glad.
Pastor Alex Maina,which lineage exactly?
When and why did they migrate?
Were they migrant Ethio Jews?
Why the migration?
Kiarie
September 29, 2008 at 4:25 PM
I have travelled extensively in Ethiopia and Eritrea and have established a definitive connection between the Kikuyu and the Ethiopian Falashas. The Kikuyu traditional religion is practically identical to the Isralites’.
The proto-kikuyus spoke a semetic language until it was overshadowed by the infusion of bantu speakers but some remnants of the semetic words still remain, eg. mai in kikuyu is the same word in Tigrinya (Axum) in N. Ethiopa & Eritrea which means water.
The proto-kikuyu fled Ethiopia after the overthrow of the jewish queen Yidiot in the 12th century and settled in the kikuyu highland where they already had a presence, and a land practically identical to the Ethiopian highlands. They remained isolated until the arrival of the bantu migration in the 14th/15th century to form the present day Kikuyus with a dramatically changed language but retaining most of their religion.
Joel Maina
October 1, 2008 at 12:07 AM
I am not in agreement Kikuyus are just that may be the the Jews are the Kikuyus.
mbura
October 3, 2008 at 9:28 PM
[...] discussion here http://kikuyunationalism.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/who-are-the-kikuyu/ Tags: Jews, Kikuyu, lemba, lost tribes of isreal, [...]
The Lost Tribes of Isreal-House Of Mumbi « Muigwithania 2.0 KikuyuNationalism
October 5, 2008 at 3:24 AM
Kikuyus have jewish links through Emperor Menelik 1st of Ethiopia who imported Jewish expatriates from Israel. The Falashas are a proof of this Jewish settlement. You just need to read the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament to see the close paralles with the old Kikuyu culture and religion.
The proto-kikuyus (distinctly jewish) were swamped by the new Bantu arrivals to evolve into modern Kikuyus who are distinctly not jewish although retaining some jewish moral codes and practices.
Joel Maina
October 6, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Can someone post a link to the article here
“Kenya times” or is it “People” of 19th November 2007
Twiga2008
October 10, 2008 at 3:57 AM
Its the people of Nov.9 2007.I have it right here.I tried to scan and attach but impossible for this site.
Kiarie
October 10, 2008 at 6:42 PM
Ok Kiarie’s document can now be downloaded from the black share box on the Right side of the blog .(scan 0019.gif)
It can also be viewed on the following link
http://www.box.net/shared/llhrj54nyj
Muigwithania 2.0
October 16, 2008 at 8:41 AM
I stumbled on this blog and trust me…I am thrilled.It is very likely that we(Kikuyu’s) have Jewish ancestry. However, the important thing is to look back and behold the extra-ordinary circumstances upon which our survival is dependent on God.Then compare these events with God’s many rescues of Jews.If it was not for God on our side…My idea, we need to establish a foundation to cater for the needs of the under-privileged.Many of our people suffered a lot in the last turmoil and foundation’s help could have been handy. Rathimuoi andu aitu.
waris
November 1, 2008 at 10:28 PM
Citizen tv has been advertising another round of Mt.Kenya prayers slated for the 27th,as seen in the document.Apparently theres room for observers.I hope to pass by and have some of these Jewish questions answered.
kiarie
December 8, 2008 at 7:40 PM
consider the following similarities:
1. Agikuyu had a monotheist religion before conversion to Christianity. Ngai had identical attributes to Jahweh. Mzungus before conversion to Christianity were polytheists
2. Agikuyu’s clean and unclean foods were identical to Jewish.
3. Cleansing rituals were similar
4. the count of ’seven’ had a mystical connotation
etc etc. these are not mere coincidences
Joel Maina
December 11, 2008 at 11:34 PM
Btw,reading this bbc guy carefully you can see official Brit attitudes:”It’s this bumptious sense of entitlement that infuriates Kenya’s 47 other tribes”
Really??Even the NYTimes saw and said the violence was planned.Mind you, this is in early Feb,the bbc published this story;more than enough time to research the facts.
Look carefully at this bs,ati:”“It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you set the stage where a single community has isolated itself, what follows is a feeling of resentment by others, of ‘what’s so special about you?’ “”
In other words all the RV rallies where Lumbwas shouted “sangare/madoadoa/kwekwe must go,”never happened.The article suggests,not out loud the violence occurred naturally,if not spontaneously.
But this takes the cake:”While Western donors relished Kibaki’s 6 percent to 7 percent growth rates, the mood on the ground was grim. The fact that Central Province’s milk, tea, and coffee industries surged ahead while other regions remained marginalized did not go unnoticed.”
Anyway,I’m sure forumers here know why such drivel are represented as fact.
kiarie
December 24, 2008 at 9:02 PM
the falashas do have jewish connection, but as for kikuyus i don´t know.. kikuyus did come from the ethiopian highlands & not from w.africa, but i think the lost jews matter needs thorough reserch first.
I am a kikuyu, i see myself Kenyan 6 most as an East African. We (kikuyus & other tribes) are all equal .
Someone wrote about kikuyus having an arch rival from the lake. I personally see it not so. We are diverse yes, but so is the rest of the world… we need to respect each other & work together so as to bring ourselves & our Nation ahead, for our sakes & for the sakes of generations to come.
We have a beautiful Nation.
gath.2000
December 30, 2008 at 6:05 AM
I have no doubt that you all mean well, but for Gods sake what makes you think that we will be more sanctified if we are related to the Jews more than we are related to our luo brothers. Does our pride come from our associations with other people’s histories? Now that the next president of the United States happens to come from the Luo kingdom, we now do find it befitting to be a relative of Barack Obama and thus by extension, the Luos irrespective of their foreskin. No matter how much we claim others peoples history as our own. We will never be found worthy of being, by those whose opinions matter more to us than any other, and that is our own self.
Please my people of Gikuyu and Mumbi learn to love thyselfs as you truly are and the whole world will love you. Even if the world does not love you, at least, you will be happy and proud of being who you are, Jew, Gentile Or just Gikuyu
We claim that the Jews stole our History and our Ideas about God, then, we should be proud that they did and were able to do something worthwhile with it by spreading the good news and thus conquering the world.
Are we trying to associate ourselves in the hope that this achievements will rub off on us? Are we just lacking?
Those of you who are trying to link everything to a certain religious philosophy are way of the mark. God is omnipresent and omniscience. If he wanted us to be his chosen ones, He did not have to go half way around the world to pass a message meant for us to the Jews who would in turn relay it down to us. If you asked me, this is a good idea of a “broken telephone” Thaai Thathaiya Ngai Thaai. Ngai loves just as we are.
Mbugua Wa Kabena
December 30, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Dear Joe, I have no problem with what other people choose to think. If you are a parent, you surely know that your own children do not necessarily do what you teach them, but it is a start. I was just trying to use another perspective to this argument. I myself do not reside in Kenya, and neither have I done so for most of my life.
The reasons I have used the Luo tribe. or, Obama for that matter is for the simple fact that, for all the Kenyans “Kikuyus” who happen to reside here in the U.S.of A, it is a common trait to hear them introducing themselves to foreigners from other countries as Kenyans or from the land that gave the world Obama. I based this on historical and cultural disagreements that the two communities (and others for that matter) have been engaged in for decades and this is a fact.
In short what I was trying to say is that we are not at liberty to choose what side to be on when it suits us or not to be. We are either this or that and no matter what we say or think, will not help change the dynamics of truth, for truth stands for itself
I for one do not think that there are a chosen people. God is not a bigot to choose some life over others. We are not made stronger by making others weaker, we are not smarter by making others look stupid, but we are stronger and smart when we stand in the gap for those whose voices are weak.
If as Kikuyus we have a dream, then let’s work hard towards the attainment of that dream without fear or favor, but guided by truth and not heresy.
Mbugua Wa Kabena
January 1, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Sorry Joe and everyone else on this Blog I forgot to wish you all a happy new year and it is my sincere hope that we will all find something to love in each other irrespective of tribe, race or any other human affiliations that humans find so much time to indulge in. Once more, happy new year to you all.
Mbugua Wa Kabena
January 1, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Hi Guys,
I stil doubt whether Kikuyus have any links with Jews but even id they had…does it matter?I dont think so.
Mwangi
January 23, 2009 at 9:59 PM
the interest here is purely historical; to explain the origins of the few cultural and religious traits common to both nationalities – period.
Joel Maina
January 27, 2009 at 11:39 PM
We probably have. We are monotheic as the jews; our writing was similar to theirs( yes we knew how to write. You who are over 60 can remember the hieroglyphics on hives and cuttings on ears to identify cattle); we both practice circumcision and when we pray facing Mt Kenya, it is not the mountain but the direction towards Israel we are seeking. We both offer burnt offering of a ram of one colour;and myth has it that we came down with the arc of the covenant which is buried in Mt Kenya.
Ruoro Gachomo
January 31, 2009 at 5:13 AM
Firstly happy belated new year to all kyukenationalists!Secondly to those of you,of whom there are an unfortunate number exemplified by Kabena,you need to be set straight.This post is an attempt to examine our history beyond the shallow explanations we all internalised in primary school (W.Africa then DRC,N.Tanzania and finally Mt.Kenya).Evidence indicates a strong Semitic origin for much of our culture.Further evidence shows it is of Ethiopian,specifically Tigre origin.Why should that disconcert some of us?I personally have never believed the JEWS to be as important at that or this juncture of history as they like to pretend but why should this be an issue? This is of historical interest to us-should it be of financial value to be important,Mwangi? Lets all allow the research to continue. I eagerly wanted to clarify the matter at the Mt.Kenya prayers in December last year,but alas!they were cancelled.
kiarie mwika kiarie
February 5, 2009 at 7:54 PM
What have kikuyus achieved so far to claim to be jews?I dont know any interesting kikuyu.By the way ,jews are not that exceptional as people think.Jews have never produced the greatest in anything.In mathematics germans produced the greatest mathematicians of all times(Euler,Gauss,Riemman,Hilbert).In philosophy,germans again produced the best(Kant,Hegel,Heidegger…).In classical music,germans produced the best(Mozart,Beethoven,…).In physics,english(Newton,Dirac) and german(Heisenberg…) are the top of the pile.Many of the discoveries attributed to Einstein were already done by other scientists.Frenchmen Bachelier and Poincare were the first to establish the Brownian motion and the special relativity respectively.And the german mathematician David Hilbert established the general relativity equations at the same time as Einstein.In economics,the greatest economists were french(Leon Walrass,Debreu) or English(Keynes).In painting,Picasso,Van Ghogh,Dali…were not jews.Even in business,the greatest businessmen of all time(Henry Ford,JP Morgan,..) were not jews.So why are jews so “special”?Ashkenazis jews are the jews who have achieved the most among the jews.But ashkenazis are a mix of jews and aryans bloods.Israel has so far failed to produce any decent scienitist ,any nobel prize of any kind.So what is “special” with being jew?
Kossinaa
February 16, 2009 at 9:36 PM
Apparently the convenors didn’t get police permission;which is mandatory even for prayer meetings.It was a last minute thing:the cops turned up just before the beginning and demanded a licence ,there was none and declared everything illegal.
People simply left-it was a major letdowm.Honestly I don’t know if the 07 meeting was licensed but I do know there was no interference.
Btw,ignore Kossinaa;hes now a troll derailing this thread!!
kiarie
February 20, 2009 at 8:15 PM
Wow! Whatever happened to Pan African Ideals? I get the feeling that the writer of the post is trying to have his cake and eat it too.Perhaps I misunderstand his theme/purpose.
I will be the first one to agree that most successful commercial enterprises are owned by Kikuyus and that they are a hard working feisty people.
Your revisionist stance linking the positive Kikuyu traits above to a jewish heritage is intriguing to say the least. One does not have to be a “jew” whatever that is; to be successful in business or science as Kosina has illustrated above.
Then you apply a strange twist by admitting that geographical proximity to the colonial powers favoured the kikuyu with a proliferation of missionary schools and hence by “independence” they were well placed to take the reigns on Kenya’s political & economic spheres. Are these historical “accidents”still “jewish” blessings?
Then there is the fact that the Kikuyu form 22% of Kenya’s population; the next community/nation (the composite peoples dubbed Luyia) slightly more than half that.
It follows (but not necessarily so, if one thinks of Rwanda’s Hutu majority) that Kikuyus would lead in many spheres of Kenyas society.
The “jews” whom you admire were always minorities in their adopted homes in Europe so your analogy is weakened here somewhat.
Your article confuses me further (I may be slow) by revealing Kenyatta’s divisive and dismissive “morning milk for kikuyus and afternoon milk for the rest”.
I admire your honesty here and again submit that the “jews” of europe were never in such positions of outright power.
They were minorities who only later begun to get some political positions like the Black slaver-condoning Benjamin Disraeli. Hypocritical europe left money lending to the “filthy jews” to handle due to biblical anti-interest/usury interpretations by the then pervasive and powerful Roman Church.
The jews then built powerful financial houses through this looked down upon profession. They financed european royalty and their frequent savage wars amongst each other, the “jews” financed the Translatlantic slave trade too and today we have the biggest financial institutions on the planet owned by these “jews”. At least the ones still standing as the dollars collapse continues to bite…..
Your honesty about the sense of entitlement many kikuyus feel towards ruling Kenya due to the brave Mau Mau fighters is also interesting. This is why I ask what happened to Pan African ideals?
Did not Argwings Kodhek for example argue Kenyatta’s case? Why was Achieng Oneko jailed? What was Tom Mboya trying to achieve by convincing his colleagues to let Kenyatta be the leader? Why did Kenyatta literally disown Mau Mau after gaining independence from the Queen? Why was J.M. Karuiki disgusted with the powers that be and their corrupt ways? Were not people like Koinange, Kenyatta’s influential bossom buddy, children of the same collaborating-with-British imperialist chiefs that the Mau Mau fought against? Njonjo too?
Is it a fact or a lie that the Kenyatta family owns mind-boggling tracts of land in central, rift valley ad coastal provinces?
Your intellectual sleight of hand here is not useful in uniting African together!
This is why it is so easy for a bigot to see the “bumptious sense of entitlement” some Kikuyus have as infuriating.
Yet my many Kikuyu friends want not to stay in Kenya, Mt Kirinyaga not because they dont love their beautiful roots.
But because failed leadership has made them conclude that the only way to survive is to be out of Kenya! Let us as Africans deal honestly with these contradictions that so befuddle our lives.
Now some facts:
a) A jew is one who subscribes to judaism. It is a way of life and those jews you admire are merely spawns of the converted Ashkenazi ancestors from the 7th C (whose king then converted along with his people to avoid Islamic & Christian onslaughts)
b) As a Pan African I would urge you to do your research on the real jews and link the Kikuyu to them with tenable proof. Research is sometimes scarce on Africa’s real history but for honest Africans there is alot to go on.
c) You have noted elsewhere that the Kikuyu are a blood mix from many roots including cushitic, nilotic/maasai, agumba/pygmie like and still presently going on.
For example if Fidel Oginga (Railas son) and his Kikuyu bride have offspring then Luo blood (which is also a blood mix trailing with various absorbed communities including “Bantus” from Sudan, Uganda to Kenya) will not for the first,nor the last time enter into the rivers of genes of the house of Mumbi.
Let us stop kidding ourselves Africans. Kenya is a very poor nation with a life expectancy of 52 yrs, probability of not surviving beyond 40yrs at 36%
People without access to treated water 39% , enrollment in primary, sec & tertiary at only 60%
As Kenyans. Africans.How many people do we know who have AIDS, have the virus or are dead due to AIDS related complications?
Anybody with a rudimentary sense of economic development can see that you cant do business with a sick poor ignorant nation!
That is why America gave & lent Europe Billions of $$ (including “enemy” germany) after the white mans’ tribal war of the 1940s. The economists in Washington knew that it was an investment to have Europe up and healthy for them to sell their machinery etc.Trade promotes peace, wealth understanding.
In a nutshell we Africans have to discard little thoughts.
We have to think REALLY BIG.PAN AFRICAN!!
Even as we revise history it helps to sustain a vision that evokes pride and hope in the youth of Africa because our little communities are too poor to survive economically in “splendid isolation”.
Real Leaders are made of stuff that can fashion a vision out of internal contradictions, prevailing. The lies and exploitation.
The word tribe is something we really must study and understand because words have the power to carve realities.
Tribe has connotations of smallness, backwardness, parochialism and savagery. Period.
This is why the Anglo-Saxons who were called mere barbarian tributaries (Britanculli)by their Roman masters used it in turn on us when they crawled down to Africa.
Still, congratulate this website for its efforts but I recommend strongly that a Pan African Outlook for Kenyans be sought.
Our erstwhile colonizers have their economic/political/military/cultural blocks based on mythical majesty of Greece; a mere student of ancient classical Africa, Kemet/Tameri.
We have our classical heritage just waiting to be tapped-so that we can expand our minds and wealth as Africans.
Otherwise we will be stuck at the lowest common denominator: POVERTY AS A NATION and waiting for the white man or arabs heaven while we butcher each other sensesless.
With 1-5% of rulers pretending to blame the others’ “tribe” as they live their false myopical and filthy-lucre filled lives at our expense.
Let us have the courage to FACE FACTS as they are. Kenyans are not by nature enemies inspite of what has happened. We just lack leadership.
Asante
Nyeusi Ni Mungu
February 24, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Nyeusi ni Mungu, Felix Frankfurter who was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.I think said it best “I came into the world a Jew, and although I did not live my life entirely as a Jew, I think it is fitting that I should leave as a Jew. I don’t want to turn my back on a great and noble heritage.”We came into the world as Kikuyu, and although We did not live our lives entirely as Kikuyu, It is only fitting that We should leave as Kikuyu. We don’t want to turn our backs on a great and noble heritage.God created Kikuyus ,The British made Kenyans ,Africans made Pan Africanism .We will die, what God created us .The Agikuyu
Muigwithania 2.0
February 25, 2009 at 6:36 AM
You are a little confusing. One minute you claim jewish heritage. You also state that the Kikuyu are a versatile people adopting and absorbing positive traits from other peoples. Including absorbing their genes. For eg, You state that quite a number of Kikuyu have masaai blood including Kenyatta. So when you talk about living and dying Agikuyu,I get flumoxed a wee bit: Are you saying that Ngai’s creation Agikuyu is a pure bloodline never to be “tainted” by foreigners (see kenyata/saitoti etc) or are you talkng about a distinct socio-cultural entity so constructed in the mists of atiquity and woven together via myths, tradition and language?I suggest the latter is self-evident of any contigous community which the murderous British called tribe in Africa and reserved the more dignified adjective “nation” to themselves and fellow murderous caucasians.Query: By leavng & dying Agikuyu are you suggesting an eternal static position? You have already alluded to the dynamis of the Agikuyu. You can not have your cake and eat it simultaneously.
Then your mention, in one contemptously breath that “Africans” came up with Pan Africanism in the same breath that the Brits came up with the geographical expression today known a Kenya
This is simply put outrageous!
First, Agikuyu are Africans.Right? Perhaps I may need to prove that to you.Also, the Pan African Ideal contributed towards Kenya’s “independence”. I am sure you know that. Read Facing Mount Kenya again.
Let us think BIG AFRICANS!!
Nyeusi Ni Mungu
February 25, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Ngai the God of the Agikuyu belongs to all as he is described as the creator of all.as to the questions of gikuyu people being Jews ..that is debatable but what is known is that the last Gikuyu prophet [Mugo wa Kibiru}who lived in the 18th century predicted the return of the Agikuyu to their traditions after a period of being lost i othee peoples cultures and religion,so i think we are not the lost jews only we are lost…..
wainaina kimani
February 26, 2009 at 6:12 PM
and to muiguithania 2.0 Gikuyu and Mumbi didnot have 9 daughters…In the agikuyu way of life it was taboo to count live creature{whether human or animal}as it would bring bad luck.so the last one was counted by a name[muiyuru},SO Gikuyus daughters were kenda muiyuru meaning 10 in todays numbers…more later
wainaina kimani
February 26, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Over intellectualizing? This is an unwarranted sneer on your part without any shred of an evidence of an ivory tower complex in my presentations and concerned queries.
See, I appreciate the need to promote fervour for a cultural entity. However, inferences of a “purity mentality” can be drawn from what you say like your “brits made Kenya, Africans made Pan Africanism and God Created Agikuyu”
Let us be honest here. There is nothing wrong with learning from others.
The fact is (as you now agree with less ambiguity) that there is no such thing as a Kikuyu pure bloodline. Same to English, Luo or even the so-called jews of Europe and their progeny who masquerade as “sons of David” in Israel today.The same people Africans so admire without knowing that they are the spawn of a people who financed a large chunk of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade: The selling of Black Africans like a butcher sells meat.
But I digress…but with deliberate fury!….
Humanity is a mongrelized race and cultures are from antiquity, mere survival and political constructs with shared myth, tradition, language.Period.
This is not empty intellectualism but facts that I dare suggest you are aware of.
I am not belittling the Agikuyu socio-cultural construct but what I disagree with is your proclivities towards an idealized “splendid isolation” of “your people”.
This is the stuff of “intellectualism” or a priori thinking: thought/ideas independent of experience! This is typical in western thought processes-trying to fashion ideas out of thin air. An example is the neo-liberal free maket fundamentalists from Chicago.Their “well thought out rational IDEAS” have pluned the whole world into the greatest depression ever.
I hope African Intellectuals will learn from it this time and stop following Roman ideas blindly. Stop being of inferior intellect unecessarily.
Even looking up at this page alone one quickly concludes that the Agikuyu, since their emergence and migrations into “Kenya” have never ever been truly alone but have made a series of compromises with other peoples.
This experience is similar with most composite cultures that the mzungu contemptously called “tribes” with all its savage-child-minded-primeval-people meaning.
You now state your dream clearly and without drama by asking me why I begruge the DISSOLUTION of the Agikuyu from I presume Kenya. You mean seccession?
I will leave it to you to explain these ideas of separation further because I am stunned beyond belief!
Then again, all is not lost because now you chose to remind me that the KCA were Pan African Kikuyus working with other Africans to bring down the hated Union Jack then flying around nonchantly in our country.
Earlier you had lectured me on Pan Africanism being a mere creation of”Africans”.
Let us be for real.
I disagree with your assertion on the “static Agikuyu” Model.
Surely you do not honestly believe that the Agikuyu of today are the same in thought & deed as those of even a 100ys ago-leave alone a few centuries back? In good & bad?
I am sure I misunderstood this completely. Right?
Here is the thing: Pan African ideals will cure we Africans in the Motherland and diaspora from the internal contradictions that afflict our souls.
In classical African thought systems, the concept of duality was developed at high levels. The foreign invaders who crawled in to Africa, never really got to understand this way of thinking.
Today modern science has provided us proof that reality is a duality:
Eg, Light has wave-like and particle-like properties. Simultaeously!Yet separately. When you look for the light as waves you will see them. When you look for light particles/photons you will find them.
When there is darkness, there must be light somewhere!
I am saying that African thought-classical African thought is superior and once we get back to it and adapt it to 21 century we see the PRAGMATIC ASPECTS of being say a Kikuyu and AN AFRICAN as ONE & THE SAME.
Not mere cheap lip servicing like many of our so-called leaders do.
When Europe/the West/the white man saturates our mind with his made up notions that Greece was the first high civiliztion we must remember one or two things of vital importance to those of us Africans who crack our minds trying to get A UNIFYING NARRATIVE:
-Greece learnt its best from Africans. We all know this. But we have been conditioned to stay apathetic to this fact. WE HAVE YET TO TAP INTO CLASSICAL AFRICAN CIVILZATON.
-The northern Eurpeans (the actual “white guy”)were looked down upon by the ancient greeks as mere savage, primitive barbarians (and they were):
The Ostrogoths, Goths, Saxons, and all those other proto-mzungus. Today the west parades Ancient Greece as sringing forth from their progenitors.Ridiculous.
But they control the narrative. If we continue to let them!
Their open secret is that they harnessed the myth of Greece being number one in thought to mobilize a Pan European ideal albeit with numeous hiccups, winners & losers.
Today we Africans swot to understand Pytharus theorem named after a Greek who graduated in mathematics from Kemet, Africa after his Black Pyramid (multi-dimensional triangles) building Professors let him be.
Today we worship a blonde, blue-eyed jesus and wonder why he coul not save us from ourselves us we butchered each other…..Nor the white Arab allah.
What we are trying to say is that in Africa there were high ciilizations and small chieftains and yes even primtive savagery in ancient times. However, we have been conditioned to think that we never really had anything of societal organizational complexity.
Rubbish!
Let us THINK BIG, BE HUMBLE-it can be strategic to be humble. Let us give our African youth the BIG PICTURE instead of cocooning their minds with parochial myopia and smallness.
And we Africans will have to agree to subsume our little corners into the bigger picture.
Isolation complex leads to degenerate thoughts in the youth.
Let them grow and fruit with high ideals of AFRICAN UNITY!
Plus it is GOOD FOR OUR ECONOMIES.
Think about it.
Peace
Nyeusi Ni Mungu
February 26, 2009 at 10:03 PM
1.I don’t want to be harsh but I don’t know how many times one has to clarify a position for some people to understand what the blog administrator position is-on the jewish question (i suggest you read all the posts replies).
2. Any outstanding issues that anyone may have with Jewish people can be settled elsewhere and not on this blog.
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Mungu ni muesi,
Yes the Agikuyu, since their emergence into “Kenya” have made a series of compromises with other peoples.(agreed)And that does not mean that a free ‘independent’ (semi/total)Agikuyu will not continue to make compromises with others in a post Kenya Era. When nations become distinct it does not mean that they are isolated and unwilling to compromise does it ?(No it means they compromise and associate on their own terms- and that is what you are failing to tell readers)We simply need to go back to that position. Kikuyu culture has always believed in good neighborliness and free association and it always will, even when it is independent .
-What part of Kikuyu Nationalism is misunderstood i wonder?( I for one do not dance around the issue) -We can go it alone.For thousands of years our people functioned as a civilized nation interacting and associating with others.There is no reason a modern version of that can not be recreated.
- No Kikuyu I know of has a problem with the realizations being a Kikuyu and an African is possible.Some of us have just developed a problem with Kenya.Kikuyu’s can contribute to the global village and indeed Africa without necessary being Kenyan.Going back to the question is being Kenyan a prerequisite to being an Pan Africanist ?
-There is nothing small about our heritage and the posibilities it holds , We simply refuse to be confined into an un natural state created by the west that is now in the process of becoming a failed state .
Suggested Reading
a) Concept of Tribe. http://kikuyunationalism.wordpress.com/ethno-symbolism/
b) Why the Ideology.http://kikuyunationalism.wordpress.com/home/
Muigwithania 2.0
February 26, 2009 at 11:41 PM
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The Blog Admin reserves the right to remove any materials that may potentially violate or derail discussion on said post
Blog Admin
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Nyeusi Ni Mungu
February 27, 2009 at 9:16 PM
IHAVE A QUESTION FOR THE PEOPLE WHO MADE COMMENT ON THIS ISSUE. DID YOU BOTHER TO READ THE ARTICLE OR DID YOU JUST GRAB THE WORD JEW AND WENT BERSERK
MAYBE (AS SOME OF YOU HAVE SAID)IN THE COUNTRIES U R NOW RESIDING IN THEIR IS NO LITERATURE IN CLASSROOMS OR U R WAY TOO ANALYTICAL THAT U WOULD RATHER GRASP AT STRAWS THAN FACE WHAT IS HAPPENING THE ISSUE IS NOT ABOUT BEING THE LOST TRIBE OF JUDEA BUT RATHER GETTING THE SAME SENTIMENTS AS THEM SUCH THAT IF ANYTHING GOES WRONG ANYWHERE ‘WHY NOT BLAME A KIKUYU’
TO THE PERSON WHO WROTE THE ARTICLE I HAVE A QUESTION. HOW MANY KIKUYU’S WERE GIVEN FREE LAND? COZ TO READ THIS ITS AS IF ALL OF US WERE GIVEN.THIS IS WRONG. A MAJORITY OF OUR PEOPLE WORKED THEMSELVES TO DEATH (AND STILL DO SO TO DATE) TO BUY LAND IN ANY PART OF THE COUNTRY AS WE ASSUMED THAT SINCE WE R KENYANS WE HAD A RIGHT TO LIVE ANYWHERE IN KENYA. NOW BECAUSE WE CHOSE TO VOTE FOR ONE WAY WHILE EVERYBODY ELSE WAS FOLLOWING THE ODM MKONDO WE HAVE TO DIE?????
BELIEVE ME BEFORE 28TH DECEMBER2007 I WAS A KENYAN AND PROUD TO BE ONE BUT NOW AM A KIKUYU FROM THE DIASPORA COZ LET US BE HONEST THE PEOPLE IN CENTRAL WERE JUST LOOKING AT NTV JIONI AND RANTING WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING OUTSIDE. IT DID NOT MATTER THE EXTENT OF UR WEALTH OR THE TRIBE U HAD MARRIED TO WHEN THE VIOLENCE ERUPTED WE ALL WERE IN THE SAME SITUATION ‘REFUGEES IN OUR OWN COUNTRY’
OUR FORE FATHERS WERE BORN IN RIFT VALLEY BEFORE UHURU SO UNANIAMBIA NIENDE CENTRAL KWA NANI???
WE ARE NOT A VIOLENT PEOPLE EVEN WHEN PROVOKED AND BELIEVE ME IF U LIVE IN THE RIFT VALLEY U KNOW FOR SURE WE HAVE BEEN PUSHED TO THE WALL FOR WAY TOO LONG.
I DO NOT CARE WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD CALL THEM TO ME MUNGIKI STABLIZED THE COUNTRY COZ THE ATTACKERS WERE WONDERING WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE WHOLE COMMUNITY WERE TO RISE UP AND DEFEND ITSELF PEOPLE SAY THEY SLAUGHTERED INNOCENT KENYANS WHAT WAS THE CRIME OF ALL THOSE WHO WERE BURNT ALIVE IN THE CHURCH??????
THIS WAS A WAR AGAINST ONE COMMUNITY FOR EXERCISNG THEIR DEMOCRATIC RIGHT TO VOTE FOR WHOMEVER THEY WANT USING WHATEVER BASIS THEY WANTED WHETHER TRIBAL OR OTHERWISE OR IS IT DEMOCRACY WHEN WE ALL AGREE WITH WHAT OTHERS WANT.
JUST A THOUGHT FOR THOSE IN CENTRAL==WHEN THIS VIOLENCE STARTED IT WAS A PROBLEM FOR OLENGURUONI LATER MOLO & KAMWAURA JOINEDIN 2007/2008 IT REACHED THE OUTSKIRTS OF NAKURU. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN 2012
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WA WANGARI
April 8, 2009 at 5:12 PM
Thaai thathaiya Ngai thaai.It is imperative that as heirs to the great inheritance that is Gikuyu cultural identity we maintain not just verbal unity but a keen sense of kinship.My elders tell me that in days of yore,only one alarm,called “nguri ya itua nda” was raised whenever would be attackers were sighted in the vicinity of any Gikuyu village.The effect of this alarm was astounding; in a matter of minutes,warriors from all surrounding ridges would assemble,armed and ready, at the “king’ang’a” and the attackers would get what was due to them from this allied Gikuyu Defence Force,then known as “Ita ria Nyarurunga.”The thrust of my argument is this:
1. We should not be afraid of being dismissed as”tribal” by assembling under the auspices of Gikuyu unity.This is what has contributed to us abandoning important events and ceremonies like the Ituika which would have vested the Gikuyu Nation with a fresh crop of leaders to guide us into a socio-political future that already looks uncertain.
2.We should endevour to respect other communities and their ways of life.we should also explore ways to partner with them in fields of mutual interest and benefits.However we should not compromise our goals and values so as to obtain sympathy.
3.We should,as a proud people,guard jealously our birthright.way of life and right to live.Never again should a child of Mumbi sleep in a tent while warriors stare,”Micie yuuraga ngo ciagwo makumbiini.”
4.We should look into ways of ensuring that every one of us chips in when our collective existence is threatened and to fine those who abandon us in our hour of need.Konyu kegura ni koomirie ikwa.
Thank you.
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Kahii ka Mukami
April 9, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Thank you for the compliment.What continues to amaze me is the speed at which busy bodies attack,denounce and cry foul at any exclusive Pan- Gikuyu gathering,while nobody raises afinger when other groups /communities meet and issue genocidal threats to us.
To wit,Mau Mau was only accepted as a legal entity in 2003,When recently a group of worshippers attempted to go to Mt.Kirinyaga to offer prayers and thiinjo to Ngai, they were turned back by armed police.
The Kikuyu need not cower.We are not ashamed,afraid or apologetic for being Kikuyu.We have never attacked any community to take their land by force.We lost a whole generation in the 1950s fighting a superpower,not for our own selfish sake,but for the whole of the Kenyan nation-state.Is it too much to ask for mutual respect,for our right to own property in a country our forebears fought for?
I beleive not.Once again I reiterate that we should respect other peoples’ rights,culture,way of life,religion(S) and self determination.But we shall not do this at gunpoint.To be continued……..
Kahii Ka Mukami
April 22, 2009 at 3:44 AM
[...] [...]
The Mugumo Tree :Will Never Be Uprooted « Muigwithania 2.0
May 27, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Hi,
I would like to put the record straight about Kikuyus in the rift valley and how they ended up there. Wa mwauras assertion that the central kikuyu were not affected is all wrong and misplaced. Again there is a popular notion amongst young people in other tribes that kikuyus were brought to the riftvalley during Kenyattas time. This is completely wrong.
Here are some few insights: According to recent research, Kikuyus may have occupied some parts of the riftvalley in the 17th century, specifically areas around Naivasha. Naivasha was then occupied by the purko Maasai who were predominantly pastrolists and never did any farming. At first there seem to have good relationship between the maasai and the Kikuyu and trade flourished alot between the two during peace time. The research done at the basin of Lake Naivasha showed that maize was being grown in this area by about 1690 AD and the most likely farmers were the Kikuyu.
However, the situation changed and a series of serious famines hit the land between 1790 and 1845, setting off a huge Maasai civil war that lasted thro’ the period. It is probably this civil war that made the Kikuyu temporary leave tha area going to the north and to the east. At the same time, the hilly areas around Nyahururu were receiving migrants-and it is probably these kikuyu migrants from Naivasha and Nakuru that made thier debut there.
Not all Kikuyu left-some inter-married with the Maasai and thier populations increased in the 1850s and 1860s. A very seroius but brief Maasai civil war in mid 1870s reduced the Maasai population by half and although the Kikuyu populations in the RV were affected, they went back to business soon after the war and their numbers increased.
By about 1912, the Maasai population was slightly above 10, 000 including those outside RV. In a 1932 census, the Kikuyu population was just about 5,000 in Nakuru district alone!! If I am lying, visit the National archives.
Efforts to remove the Kikuyu from the RV started in 1944. The colonial govt. then decided to remove the Kikuyu from RV to central because they were ‘poisoning’ other tribes politically-it was a period of political awakening in the country. Thousands of Kikuyus were shipped forcefully to a land they didnt know-CENTRAL. By 1946, there was a huge gap in labour creating a crisis in the RV and the settlers and the govt realised their mistake- that eviction was wrong-they recalled them back to their farms and that marked the beginning of movements of Kikuyus to the RV in bigger numbers.
The number of people brought to the RV with Kenyattas influence are very few probably less than 1%. Most people that I know have bought land there during Moi’s time NOT kenyattas. Most of these people sold their possessions in central to buy land in RV, which was relatively cheaper. That means almost three-quarters of the kikuyu in the diaspora have active relatives in Central.
When violence broke-out in jan 2008, most of these people went to relatives in central or relatively safer areas in RV. Almost every village in central had a share of this problem in one way or another. We were all affected and i could sit and watch TV due to stress. Many people were under stress even if our houses were not burnt. One doctor told me that he treated stress related cases 900% more than normal in jan to march 2008 in his clinic in Kiambu.
Wa Mwaura, it is good you consult before you throw your jab-the central people tried to help as much as possible-as to how…please consult further.
Ndichu2002
June 1, 2009 at 11:25 PM
I think the debate has deviated from the historical perspective. The fact is a jewish entity still exists in neighbouring Ethiopia. Agikuyu have some cultural/religious traits similar/identical to ancient Israelites. Has anybody established DNA links with Falashas?
Joel Maina
June 24, 2009 at 9:57 PM
To add to Ndichu’s well written article,let me say that by the time the Brits came,Agikuyu had a permanent military encampment at Kireita, in the present day Kinale forest.My research indicates that this was a forward operating base (F.O.B)for the conquest of Ewaso Kedong valley,Matasia,Ngong and Lari.Limuru had by then fallen to Ita Ria Nyarurunga,*(Gikuyu Combined Expeditionary Forces) led by Kinyanjui wa Gathirimu’s predecessor.
One of the promises that Chief Olenana of the Masai got from the Brits in return for collaboration was that Cpt Lugards forces would help him resist Gikuyu expansion into what he considered his ancestral land.
That’s why Fort Smith was built at Kabete.By 1930,There was a sizeable Gikuyu population in Olenguruone,Elburgon and Molo.Thats when settlers started demanding that the Gikuyu in these areas stop rearing cows and tending their farms on the pretext that their species were spreading diseases in the white-owned farms.
Kahii ka Mukami
June 26, 2009 at 10:50 PM
This is a very interesting post because at least there is an intellectual debate going on about who the people really are. However i do not agree with the nation that as Kikuyu’s we need to seclude ourselves from anybody. We have a inalienable right to be in any part of Kenya working together with our brothers from other tribes.
This is the only way Africa will develop. There are those who think that they they can kill others because they simply have the means but they should be prepared to die by their own swords. Violence doesnt help in the longrun.
As Kikuyu’s we have serious issues of unemployment and social despondency that is leading our youth to join gangs that are creating a sicilian economy right throughout central kenya. Shooting every Kikuyu male does not help anything infact it just makes the situation worse. We should work to ensure that social and economic inequality is addressed in Kenya especially Central and Nairobi provinces where it is highest.
Lastly from my own research Kikuyus are certainely a melting pot of nilotic (NYOKABI) and mostly Kushitic peoples. Indeed our music is played on a Pentatonic scale similar to Somali and especially Oromo music.
Even written dialect makes use of annotations which signify pitch which is testament to the Kushiticness of the language.
The Jewish connection is unclear and can only be very minimal and diluted over the centuries as the Kikuyu tribe swallowed smaller communities that had originated from elsewhere.
The more interesting tribe is the Maasai (who were largely swallowed by the Kikuyu tribe) and have an actual biblical reference having decended from HAM and are therefore HAMITIC.
John Karanja
June 28, 2009 at 4:33 AM