The Bible says in Matthew 12:25 King James Version: 'And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.
This is the concern of the famous House of Mumbi that is the Agikuyu community now embroiled in factional wars for supremacy in the Council of Elders.
Instead of having a grouping that is unanimously recognised, the elders are seen as nothing more than village-based cocoons with myriad spokesmen reading different scripts and jostling for recognition.
Kalonzos big mountain to climb Why fallen Pokot fig tree remains untouched two years laterIn the region, there is the Kikuyu Council of Elders, chaired by Mr Wachira Kiago, and the Kiama Kia Ma, led by Captain Kung'u Muigai. The two groups have mutations that come out to express different opinions on matters of national interest, especially touching on politics and area kingship.
It has been widely said in the region that the composition of the elders and the way they come out to express themselves on issues portray them as rent-seekers instead of an apex leadership body of wisdom.
The mandate of the elders in the Agikuyu community in its unadulterated form was supposed to be the cultural pillar that coordinates rites and ritual activities, as well as act as a summit to pursue unity among the people of the area and act as a bridge to unite with other tribes.
'But the councils we have around us are only known for making political statements without public participation, demanding goats and cash from the men of the area, presiding over coronation ceremonies without unanimity and acting divided,' said the chairman of the Central Region Youths Empowerment Lobby Group, Warui Gitau.
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Mr Gitau lamented that 'the councils demand that area men give eight goats, alcohol and cash to the elders, whereas to be fully accepted as a full Gikuyu man, one currently has to spend more than Sh300,000 with the elders'.
He said 'the elders do not even advise the men of the area to slaughter goats first for their parents who raised them... they conveniently demand that they slaughter goats for the elders'.
He said the elders even quarrel with parents and the church over who should preside over a circumcision ritual. This was after some mainstream churches started organising camp-like circumcision rituals where initiates are given spiritual advice, but the elders insist they want cultural counsels.
Elder Joseph Kaguthi reveals that 'we are already meeting to have this circumcision rite exclusively presided over by the council of elders by 2028 because circumcision is not spiritual but cultural'.
In June 2015, a cross section of elders caused an uproar when then Murang'a MP Sabina Chege was coronated as a community elder in Kenol town.
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This prompted the chairman of the Murang'a chapter of Council of Elders, Stanley Kinyanjui, to conduct a purging ceremony, arguing that there was no place for women elders in Agikuyu cultural practices.
Not that this is the first time the Council has been at loggerheads, there has never been a unified body of elders since the multi-party elections of 1992.
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The closer the elections get, the more the elders feud. In 2022, a large section of them cast their lot with incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta to drum up support for Raila Odinga of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalitionfor the presidency.
A small section of the elders led by Mr Muigai, who is former President Kenyatta's cousin, backed then Deputy President William Ruto, who won.
When Mr Kenyatta was putting together The National Alliance TNA for the 2013 general elections, he had called 42 council of elders spokespersons from each of the national communities to brainstorm on how to give it a national face.
The Central region comprises Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Murang'a, Nyandarua and Kiambu counties, but the elders also operate in Nairobi, Nakuru and Laikipia.
'To my disbelief, every community represented at the Bomas of Kenya forum, with the exception of the Central region, had a representative to speak on behalf of their communities,' Mr Kenyatta said.
He added that 'when it was Central region's turn, six men stood up and all claimed to be the real spokespersons,' Mr Kenyatta, who had since won the election, told Kameme FM in 2014.
The divisions have persisted and have now turne
