Kaya elders call for vetting to weed out imposters amongst them

Kwale; Kenya: Kaya elders are now calling for vetting to weed out impostors from the hallowed traditional council of elders.

They say many elders are falsely laying claim to kaya satatus bringing the council into disrepute for personal gain.
Speaking at Kaya Kinondo in Kwale during a tour with World Wide Fund (WWF) officials on Friday, the Kaya elders' council Vice Chairman Shaaban Ndegwa said there were men purporting to be Kaya elders when they are not.
"There are those people who come here and con people that they are Kaya elders when they are not. We now want to have interviews for each person claiming that he is a Kaya elder and ask them all our customs and cultural activities," said Ndegwa, adding that fake elders are just out to swindle money from unsuspecting people by performing rituals that they are not qualified to perform.
Ndegwa says such impersonators do not strictly adhere to Mijikendas' norms.
The elders also want the Government to deploy security personnel to guard all the 28 kayas (forests) in Kwale from encroachment and grabbers. They said despite the fact that the Government gazzeted the 28 kayas under the National Monument Act of 1992, they were left at the mercy of human activities.

They demanded the revocation of title deeds acquired illegally over land meant for  Kaya shrines, which they say were issued by the defunct County Council of Kwale. Most of the kayas have become shells as developers continue to encroach them.

Most of the 89 hectare Kaya Waa, for example, is either a quarry or has been grabbed.
It remains skeletal of what it was in the 1980s as businessmen continue mining gravel and limestone blocks from the forest. WWF Coast Programme Coordinator Elias Kimaru says the mining and encroachment threaten biodiversity in the forests.

"We have been working with the national and county governments to stem the threats the kayas are facing," said Kimaru.

He said several issues are challenging the rehabilitation that his NGO is championing at the forests. These, he said, include sub-division of land by private developers, lack of proper boundaries and encroachment.

At Kaya Kinondo, which was 40 acres after the 1977 land adjudication, the story is similar with most of the blame going to the defunct council.
Kaya Ukunda Chairperson Hamisi Juma Mavwiko said the forest is no more as it has been turned into peoples' farms.

"We are not using this place for spiritual purposes due to encroachment by foreigners after the sub-division of land," he said, adding that it was high time the kaya was surveyed, given a title deed then fenced to keep away grabbers.

Kaya Kinondo is a sacred place so important to the  Mijikenda community as they believe it was their first settlement after moving from Shungwaya in Tanzania.
The Kaya now stands on 30 hectares of prime land as it overlooks the sea.

Hemedi Mwafujo, the manager at Kaya Kinondo eco-tourism project, however says  a big chunk of the forest has been sliced off.