Mount Kenya's 'downtrodden desperadoes' looking for a new liberator

Peoples of Mount Kenya region are in search of themselves, of their identity within a country that increasingly appears hostile to their presence. Although it is not the first time they have found themselves in such a situation, the intensity of that hostility is relatively new. It leaves them wondering about their future as a people, whether they will remain as a people, and are trying to figure out from whence come their collective tribulations. They appear to be captives in their own land. Imagining themselves as the Hebrews in their tribulations, they admire biblical heroes such as Abraham and even crave for a 'Moses’ to liberate them.

They remember a mythical past and prophets healing and foretelling things. Mugwe in Meru had ability to heal and predict. In Embu, Iregi wa Irungi predicted the invasion by people who looked like butterflies and had sticks that spit fire.