Naked gunman in a Benz storms the Kikuyu shrine
MUKURWE WA NYAGATHANGA shrine in Murang'a where a nude man disputed a meeting Photo/JESSE MWANGI
A naked, angry man have desecrated a Kikuyu traditional shrine in Murang'a. The man — who was yet to be identified yesterday — ran around the shrine in a fit of madness, forcing a high-level meeting to abort, witnesses said. They said women left immediately, but the remaining attendants — mostly provincial administrators and leaders of the Kikuyu Council of Elders — were treated to a 30-minute drama by the starnger.
The meeting had been called to settle difference between factions of the Kikuyu Council of Elders over the Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga shrine. The factions are divided following the construction of a stone wall around the shrine. Councillor Jacob Murira said the man drove into the shrine in a grey Mercedes Benz. He parked it, got out of the car and ran towards the elders demanding to know why they had convened at the shrine. “He was also drinking some stuff and pouring it on his head and asked us, 'what are you doing in my father’s property?'. We were left amazed,” Murira said. He said the man ran around the shrine as elders attempted to catch him.
However they stopped when they realised he was holding a gun. Minutes later he got back into the car and drove away. Murira said the Mercedes had a female and two more male occupants. Meanwhile, late on Thursday, the police said they had arrested the man and impounded the car. They had attempted to stop the car at a roadblock on the Murang'a-Nairobi highway.
The car had defied the police and they had opened fire, injuring the occupants. Police boss Anthony Onyango confirmed they had seized the vehicle that had been driven to the shrine. He further claimed they had recovered a toy pistol from the injured suspects. Controversy has been raging over the shrine since a well-wisher offered to build a stone wall around it. A renowned cultural writer Prof Maina Kinyati has threatened to take the matter to court to block the construction of the wall. The history lecturer wants the Murang’a County Council and the Kenya National Museum to stop plans to construct the wall.