Kikuyu Elders move to court to stop housing project

A group of community lobby organisations has moved to the Environment and Land Court in Thika to stop what it terms as extreme provocation and an outrageous decision by the government to destroy a revered cultural heritage monument to make way for an affordable housing project.

Led by the Kikuyu Council of Elders (KCE) and the Kenya Unity for Memorial, Peace, Heritage and Cultural Organisation, the groups filed the petition through Ndegwa Njiru and Company yesterday, seeking the court’s intervention to stop the national and Kiambu County governments from desecrating the monument, which is revered for its cultural, religious and historical significance.

The petition seen by The Standard names the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, the Principal Secretary in the same ministry, the Cabinet Secretary for  Gender, Culture, the Arts and Heritage, the National Museums of Kenya and the Kiambu County government, among the respondents.

The Kiambu County government is the custodian and trustee of all land designated as community land under the Community Land Act and is mandated to oversee county cultural activities, museums, county planning and public participation functions relevant to the subject heritage site.

Kenya Unity for Memorial, Peace, Heritage and Cultural Organisation is an umbrella cultural body bringing together several Mau Mau independence struggle veterans’ groups.

The petition states that the petitioners are committed “to the preservation of the Agikuyu cultural heritage, the memorialisation of Mau Mau history, and the protection of heritage sites in Githunguri and elsewhere in Kenya, and bring this petition on behalf of members and the affected Agikuyu community pursuant to Articles 22 and 258 of the Constitution.”

The petition further states that the suit land was, in the early 1930s, set aside by several Agikuyu age sets (marika) for the establishment of an indigenous African institution of higher learning intended to provide educational advancement and self-determination for African learners in response to colonial and missionary educational limitations.

“Kiriri, the first-ever indigenous modern-day girls’ dormitory, named after a girl’s bedroom in the traditional hut, was established on this site,” the petition says.

The school was started in 1937, with Mbiyu Koinange as the first principal, assisted by founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.

“Rebecca Njeri was the first indigenous matron, employed to attend to the girls’ dormitory, the first of its kind in the empowerment of the girl child.”

The petitioners cite a 2017 Gazette notice by the National Museums of Kenya designating the monument as a protected heritage site. The National Land Commission also recognised the parcel of land, known as Githunguri/Githunguri/T.801, as a gazetted heritage site in 2019.

The organisations state that since independence, the petitioners and other cultural groups have continued to champion the preservation, restoration and memorialisation of the site as a heritage centre for history, research, intergenerational education and remembrance.

“The said heritage components are tied to the historical memory of the Agikuyu community, to the narrative of African self-emancipation through education, to the Mau Mau struggle, and to community rituals, commemorations, oral traditions, cultural teachings and annual cultural observances,” the petition notes.

Chairman of the Kikuyu Council of Elders, Wachira Kiago, said the elders had already communicated with the government, appealing to the Head of State to halt what he termed as provocation and the outrageous humiliation of a community.

“We are planning national prayers on April 10 at the site to renounce this humiliation,” Kiago said.