A group of Kikuyu traditionalists smashed a flag allegedly representing the LGBTQ community and erected it at the summit of Mt Kenya in 2019.
Under the title of Booi wa Kirira Kia Mugikuyu, loosely translated as "the gathering for Kikuyu culture," the organization has been amassing cash for the last month to ascend the mountain and remove the flag said to symbolize the LGBTQ community.
On Friday, April 7, around ten climbers ascended the mountain. It returned on Sunday, April 9, with the purported flag burned on fire in Naromoru, Kieni East Sub-county, Nyeri County.
Kikuyu elders performed purification ceremonies after the occurrence.
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They said that the ashes of the burned flag would be dumped into a river that goes towards the Indian Ocean.
The organization claims that hanging the flag allegedly representing the LGBTQ community atop Mt Kenya desecrated Kikuyu's sacred sanctuary.
Mt Kenya is the home of the Kikuyu god Mwenenyaga, according to Kikuyu tradition. Kikuyu traditionalists worship with their backs facing the mountain.
"It is an affront to Gikuyu spirituality, for members of this community to desecrate our Supreme Altar by raising their flag on Kīrīnyaga (Mt Kenya)," says Kimani Charagu, a founding member of Booi wa Kirira.
"We were determined to bring the flag down and thereafter perform cleansing rites by our sages," he added.
Ngarau Njonjo, a different member of the organization, who was among the team that ascended the mountain, stated that removing the said flag and the associated cleaning ritual sends a short message that the community would not be used as such a doormat for 'all sort of foreign practises'.
Murugu wa Kimari, the treasurer of Booi wa Kirira, claims theirs is a method of protecting Mt Kenya's sacredness and Kikuyu tradition.
Murugu indicated that their people should take a moment to reflect on why these horrible things are happening in the community, including mysterious deaths, practically every day.
