House Of Mumbi Heritage Or A Curse?

The doctrines of the culture and the history of the Agikuyu is not fully document or preached about like the bible story of Adam and Eve. The fact that the bible talks about the inherited sin from the world’s first couple bides us all into descendants of Eve. We all belong to the House of Eve according to the Holy Scriptures.

The house of Mumbi is thus a title that refers to the Agikuyu, generated from the story of their origin, roots, culture and heritage.

Today a shrine stands on the ground where the first man Gikuyu, created by Ngai and Mumbi who was given to him as a companion and wife, started their life and the family that is now the tribe called the Agikuyu or commonly known as the Kikuyu. The shrine which consists of several huts is situated at the Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga and is more than a tourist attraction but also a reminder of the Kikuyu roots and origin according to the doctrines of the Kikuyu traditional religious believes. 

Lately and specifically just before and after the violence that erupted after the last elections in Kenya, the title House of Mumbi was mentioned in the same manner as the famous rubric the Mount Kenya mafia even though these are two completely different elements by all means. It was talked of in such loath that even a good number of Kikuyus were unwilling to be colligated to anything to do with the House of Mumbi.

It was, still is, easy to judge the Kikuyu en masse as tribalists and thieves and every conversation that touches on or bends towards the pride of being a Kikuyu was seen as a tribal statement and hugely condemned as such without much of a thought put to it no matter how innocent it might have been. I have had to defend some of these actions on different occasion risking being labelled a tribalist.

The mere mention of the House of Mumbi evokes such outrage that the Kikuyus around have to shy off as if belonging to the House of Mumbi is a curse that they would rather do away with than preserve. As this practise of abhorrence heightened, they are brain washed into believing that there is indeed something wrong in being a Kikuyu.

In an article featured in a major newspaper, a writer likened these to the attitude towards Jews in Germany before the Holocaust and the Tutsis in Rwanda before the genocide. But it was never really taken serious until the intended ethnic cleansing erupted in several parts of Kenya. Though many reasonable people have tried to ague that the violence was spontaneous and had nothing to do with ethnicity, it is still hard to explain why innocent Kikuyus were victimised other than just that, ethnicity.

A short time after the elections and while the violence was still going on, some heavy weight Kenyan politicians were featured in a TV debate that basically ended up with the conclusion that the violence was a result of the Kikuyu dominance politically and financially.

This to the Swedes whose only way of understanding the situation was such as that debate, their arrogant ambassadors and the likes of Michael Ranneberger the US governor of Kenya wannabe, the central province Kikuyus had eroded the country off both power and wealth within the five years that Kibaki had been president.

But what they were never made aware of was that the Kikuyu are part of the suffering mass by large numbers and that they too were determined to do away with the powerful elite that were polluting the country with their greed.

That the Kikuyus are “jokingly” thieves and money lovers has been accepted in Kenya even by the tribe itself. This joke easily floats within the Kenyan public just like any other joke about other tribes. But is it a coincidence that Kibaki was labelled a thief?

In normal cases elections are rigged, at the time of Moi I never heard anyone shout thief even though Moi rigged until rigging couldn’t help him no more.

To belong to the House of Mumbi has hence changed to mean the same as the Mount Kenya mafia. Terribly unfair.

To belong to the House of Mumbi should not have anything to do with or be associated to the corrupt elite Kikuyus but must always maintain the respect of a people’s identity. Just as the House of Judah, just as there can be the House of Ramogi or the House of Laibon.

To disrespect and show contempt to this heritage is to discriminate a people and this is the heaviest anchor for tribalism.

Recently a council of elders (Athuri a Kiama) was proposed for the interest of the Agikuyu, a common tradition in almost all of the other tribes of Kenya. This caused a big debate and not surprisingly there were Kikuyus on the opposing side as well. The most discouraging factor is that while other tribes’ councils of elders sat to discuss a war against the Kikuyu, there wasn’t a council of elders for the Kikuyus to discuss how this issue would be dealt with.

The lives and fate of the people was left in the hands of an unwilling Government to protect. Before it could act the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people were lost. Probably Athuri could have avoided this by meeting the other councils of elders as was done in the past.

It was a big shame to hear some rift Valley mps refuse the return of the displaced Kenyans to their homes arguing that the root of the problem had to be sorted out first. An exercise that could take years before it could be settled conclusively while the innocent Kenyans suffered in refugee camps.

The displaced families obviously matter less to this politician. Some went further and suggested that people should vote according to regions’ majorities (tribes) wishes. Talk about killing democracy.

We must not allow a bunch of political misconceptions or a power drunk elite be linked to our cultures, traditions and roots to a destructive level. The House of Mumbi should not be judged by the sins, wrongs and shortcomings of a few persons. These could only bed for instability since discrimination can only result in revolutionary measures.

In a carton (Samir) published in Stockholm City newspaper on the 30th April, in one part of the world, Sweden, two guys are discriminated for being dark skinned while in a different part of the world, Kenya, two guys are discriminated for being Kikuyus. That this was carried in a Swedish newspaper shows how intense the Kikuyu issue has become and that the rest of the world is starting to realise it.

Like Joseph Hill (Culture) said, “tribal wars don’t solve no problems”. It’s time that this bull was caught by the horns before it caused any more damage. The House of Mumbi has nothing to do with thieves and bad politicians. It is a heritage of the history of a Kenyan people called the Agikuyu and this all Kenyans should be proud of just like we are proud of the cultural rich Maasai tribe. We should see it as part of the Kenyan treasures not as a name of another mafia family.

It is not a curse to belong to the House of Mumbi; we cannot disband ourselves from it either. It is something to be proud of not ashamed of. Like the black Americans defend their African identity and insist on being referred to as Afro-Americans even with every right of American citizenship, we must defend our tribal identities and desist from victimisation while we remain proud to belong to the larger family called Kenya. And this applies to all Kenyans.

One love and tranquillity.

P Bryan Njoroge.