By NATION CORRESPONDENT
Posted Thursday, August 11 2011 at 22:30
Posted Thursday, August 11 2011 at 22:30
Public Service head Francis Muthaura was on Thursday initiated into the Meru Council of Elders, the Njuri Ncheke, during a ceremony in Central Imenti District.
Mr Muthaura arrived at the venue in Giitu kia Kiria sacred forest at 1pm.
He was accompanied by an aide. Journalists were barred from taking photographs of the event.
Mr Muthaura had a cane, which is mandatory during such sessions.
Also initiated were Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi and 34 others.
Both Mr Muthaura and Mr Linturi were sponsored by council chairman Paul M’Ethingia in the function that lasted more than three hours.
Speaking after the highly secretive ceremony, Mr Muthaura, who is aged 65, said he had no interest in plunging into politics.
He said he had joined the Council of Elders so that he could speak for the community.
“We have been too busy pursuing our profession. We have been extremely busy. According to the culture, I was still a child,” he said.
Anybody who is not a Njuri Ncheke elder was barred from accessing the venue of the ceremony.
An initiate pays Sh3,000 known as mirongo ithatu.
Details about what took place were scanty, with the council’s secretary- general Phares Ruteere only saying there was some oathing.
At the same time, Prime Minister Raila Odinga yesterday asked the Provincial Administration to keep off the cultural activities of the communities they serve.
The PM said cultural activities are delicate and vary from one community to another.
The involvement of the Provincial Administration only serves to create tension and antagonise the communities with the government, he added.
Mr Odinga asked civil servants to allow elected elders to run the cultural affairs of their people.
The Prime Minister made the remarks at his office when he met a delegation of Njuri Ncheke elders from Meru who had paid him a courtesy call.
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