On Tuesday 17th October 2023, at about 1pm in the afternoon, a pack of nine chiefs and policemen invaded my home and harassed me and my family, actually brutalised us claiming to have been sent by higher authority. They did not say which higher authority, what that higher authority sent them to do, or why. They presented no documents, no explanation. They ransacked every part of my home including kwa ng’ombe, kwa ngũkũ na kwa mbũri. My family has not recovered from the trauma. They are gripped with fear every time someone touches our gate, or when our dogs bark in the night the way they have always barked.

My name is Kimani Charagu Kaiyai. I am the founding Chairman of Gwata Ndaĩ Cultural Association (ũi Ngai ĩ). Gwata Ndaĩ is the new dirty word in Gĩkũyũland made dirty in 2019 by a church that feared the awakening of traditional Agĩkũyũ spirituality, worship and practice. The philosophy applied was to give a dog a bad name before killing it. The church quickly enlisted the willing arms of government administration and we have had intermittent run-ins based on wild allegations that have included stage-managed drama.

On Sunday, 8th October 2023, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior, Prof. Kithure Kindiki made a church visit in Kiambu County and made a public pronouncement purporting to proscribe what he condemned as criminal groups, namely Mĩhĩrĩga Kenda, Gwata Ndaĩ na Tũrĩ-a-Mũmbi. He accused them of using culture to brutalize people and misleading them through retrogressive activities. Kiambu County Commissioner, on whose word the good professor is reacting, has alleged that these so called criminal groups practice FGM although the whole of the security machinery in Kiambu and the whole country have not been able to bring a single culprit to book in the last 9 years. The CC and his DCC Githunguri keep talking of weird allegations by informants. They must take those making those dangerous allegations to account. It is such irresponsible words, especially when given force by an insensitive administration that cause strife in society. Prof Kindiki’s pronouncement has culminated in a wave of operations across Kiambu, harassing with much indignity members of Agĩkũyũ deemed to be non-Christian, and practicing and teaching Agĩkũyũ traditional worship and spirituality. People have been harassed in Juja, Gathangari, Limuru , Ndumberi and other places in the County. This undignified harassment, brutalization, discrimination and criminalization based on faith, or lack of it, is abhorrent, unacceptable and above all contrary to the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

As for me and my family, I beg the good professor for protection and that we be treated with some dignity. Save my family from government brutality. It would take only a phone call from an assistant chief to summon me for interrogation or any other intended action. Please keep my family out of it.

This statement is a petition to the Government of Kenya and the honorable Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration, Professor Kithure Kindiki:

• To investigate and take administrative action against any government officer who has caused harassment, discrimination and criminalization of my family, myself, and all those innocent others cited above on the ground of their faith or lack of it
• That as a minority, practitioners of African Traditional Worship and Spirituality be protected from harassment by government or any other section of society.
• That our right to freedom of association and religion be upheld as per the Constitution.
• That our places of worship be be treated with the respect they deserve.
• To investigate any culprits who may be engaged in criminal activity without casting baseless allegations on practitioners of African Traditional Worship and Spirituality.
• To make a properly researched statement and government position on this matter