Mr. Samuel Kamitha

Mr. Samuel Kamitha is a trained taxidermist and cultural anthropologist.

When local researchers embarked on the World Cultural Decade 1988-1997, Mr. Kamitha was contracted to research and come up with a paper on how best to safe guard Mount Kenya forest from over exploitation. He based his research on the strength that the local community had useful knowledge and understanding of their environment that had guaranteed Mount Kenya as a renewable source of firewood, grazing and farming for millennia. Unfortunately, when Mount Kenya history in balanced management of the forest was lost, her Sacredness was lost as well.

The research paper whose theme was culture and development was to reflect collective memory that balances the use of resources. When the knowledge is readily available it could be ploughed back for adaptation by otherwise ignorant community as the first step in policy writing.

For the exercise to succeed Mr. Kamitha sought assistance from local elders who are the true living encyclopedia of African life systems and ethno science, the professional interpreters of native environment logy, myth and mysticism.

From 1990 to 1992 he sought assistance from the second and third grades of the Gikuyu elders. These resource persons helped create a reasonable corpus of traditional methods in management of local environment.

In 1993 through the recommendation of the same elders he was goad to Mount Kenya College of Seers. After uttering his clan as a “Munjiru” (the rightful clan of seers) he was subjected to negative confessions. He was made to fast for 40 days under the watchful eyes of the elders. Initiated up to the last 35th level of seer’s ladder in the esoteric wisdom, he passed the test of water, air, soil and fire in reference to Mountains Kirinyaga, Nyandarua, Kianjahi and Kiri Mbiruiru to complete the seer’s sign of the cross. He was put on a three days herb induced sleep known as three days death. The last herb known as the tree of life awakens the novice. By the time he regained consciousness he had acquired some unnatural/extraordinary wisdom. The candidate had reached the state of no desire.

The chief Seer marked a white cross on his face and navel to signify his recruitment to the prestigious college of seers to the Devine role of a messenger.To his credit, he acquired an instant understanding of the nature of departed spirits. This is one of the twelve disciplines in the cluster of Gikuyu wisdom. He was given a stars name like all seers and honoured with a seer’s muthigi- staff. Once the initiate is bestowed with muthigi staff, he is ritually added “an extra 30 years”– This signifies that he does not interact with his age mates because he is senior to them.

After years of struggle in path finding mission while working on a shoe string budget, finally he was exposed to the African forbidden wisdom listed under the title Gikuyu Science . For the first time, humanity will have a glimpse of the African science as known to the African sages and seers.

His conventional education has helped him in understanding the world of seers in a positive way. Though their wisdom lacks vocabularies and terminologies in a narrowed down process, the result is so precise and magical beyond comprehension in the world of logics.

Appointments

In 1990, Mr. Kamitha was appointed by the National Commission for UNESCO to submit a research paper on culture and conservation to the World Cultural Decade (1988-1997). The well researched papers were to be implemented by UNESCO and other UN. Agencies including the World Bank.

In 1992 he was appointed to co-ordinate Gikuyu and Mumbi cultural Museum’s programmes.

In 1995 he was appointed Director- General of the Gikuyu and Mumbi Cultural Museum. The same year Gikuyu and Mumbi Cultural Museum research programmes were officially recognized by UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

In 2000, he was appointed a member in the National Cultural Committee representing the area of museums at the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO.

In 2004, he was appointed to sit in the Culture Committee of the Meru, Embu and Gikuyu (MEGA) association. He was appointed to lead in rekindling the psych of the three communities in MEGA.

In 2007 he organized Jubilee Cultural Ceremony of the three communities. The ceremony traces the history of the Ark of the Covenant from Axum to Mount Kenya where it was put to rest in 1210 AD. (Click here to read )

In 2008 together with others, he opened up the annual Mount Kenya prayer drive . The prayer drive is held every December 27th round Mount Kenya. It is geared to becoming a world pilgrimage expedition for all humanity in line with the out of Africa theory.

In 2010 he was appointed the National Chairman of the Kenya Culture and Council of Elders Association.

In 2011 he organized Freedom Fighters Prayers.

Dissemination

Electronic media: – weekly talk shows in Coro FM (Gikuyu Service) every Tuesday from 22:00 hrs GMT to 23:00 hrs GMT East African Time, which has now been running for 6 years (DSTV reception)

Pwani FM (Kiswahili Service) in KBC. He is a regular contributor.

In 1999- Forum for Understanding General Service KBC English Service.

Print Media:-

Occasionally he appears in local newspapers.

Samuel Kamitha – Director General

Welcome to Gikuyu and Mumbi Cultural Museum site.

This site is an aperture in a slowly sailing vessel towards the unknown past, known in history as pre-history. In traversing that expansive past moment hoping to encounter chaos of ignorance before coming to the breaking point, one realizes our present discoveries are not new but a rediscovery of an already discovered phenomena. The breaking point corresponds with the appearance of man on the face of the earth. In studying his new environment, primogenitor realized there were patterns of natural laws that remained constant without changing in time and condition. These laws, mastered in a pristine way through naked eye observation gave man two pertinent components that were recipe of civilization; God and culture.

The concept of deity was admissible through man’s weakness in comprehending the natural laws but was rescued by culture, the intelligence that was developed by his environment. The interplay of nature and culture commenced when man appeared in the scene. From then, discoveries were made spontaneously and intermittently while others were lost or covered in the long history of man. But with certainty, societies kept and preserved the most vital information for their own use and their prosperity. The community was not ready to open up to people of different stock hence sentiments expressed by Fredrick Hegel in 1880’s “Africa was not a historical continent; it shows neither change nor development”, and the black people he said “As we see them today so they have always been”. A similar opinion was captured by Sir Richard Francis Burton in his adventures in Africa about the Negro thus “He seems to belong to one of these childish races which never rising to the men’s estate, fall like worn out links from great chain of animated nature” and his religion “a vague and nameless awe”

It is no wonder the two men and others who belong to their school of thought missed the point because they opinionated within a policy frame work based on racism, Christian denominational mentality and disfranchisement. Considering time and place in the scramble of Africa, their opinion was very much sought by the empire builders to justify colonialism in the take all situation. But on the other hand we have rare and unique stock of the English breed in Dr Louis Seymour Bazel Leakey who was born among the Gikuyu people. He lived among them as one of them and earned himself a Gikuyu name Karuigi, the eagle for his sharp wittedness and agility. He was a kikuyu in white English skin. The kikuyu in him compiled three volumes “The Southern Kikuyu” at the height of British colonization of Kenya. The three volumes speak for themselves.

In the last 500 years prejudice and malice have been conspicuously engrained in all major treatises coming from Europe on the subject of African native. The opinion that man give, is a reflection of his inner thought or our complexity. It does not result from one’s authoritative position in any of the fields of learning because education is a component that widens the scope of the mind but has no role in shaping ones feelings. On the part of Africans the diverse and extreme unpredictable climatic conditions have influenced her philosophy. African philosophy has given him solace in creating a resilient society. The African philosophy has taught the natives not to over react over prejudice and malice because like famine and other calamities will wither away by themselves. Human civilization right from first time long time ago, at every point is determined by the ability to sustain tensions and control their release. The extravagant assertion of Adolf Hitler narrowed and concluded Fredrich Hegel and Richard Burton’s mission. This time round as would have been expected to take place in Africa it took place in Europe, the Hegel and Burton’s back yard. Europe fell back to the Second World War 1939-1945, to pay the price. That is history.

Today in our global village no nation will thrive on colonial mentality or western tailored democracy; a patronized entity corrupted by indiscriminate use, and expect to hold together in 21st century. The mode of thinking is no longer controlled by patronage, but has become issue based, where every citizen has a right of participation. In as much as some world opinion makers prefer the status quo, a true new world order is in the offing.

In the prevailing global resilience, Africa for the second time will exploit the existing peace rull and contribute to the 21st global intelligentsia. She has the capacity, so long as she is left free by the old colonial shackles and western tailored democracy. As she did in the second millennium BC, she will do it again in the 3rd millennium AD.

What is contained in this website is a positive direction in a small way towards realization of that goal.

The Gikuyu and Mumbi Cultural Museum is calling for collaborations with universities and research centers in areas of research.

You are welcome!

Call +254 714 342 047 or +254 713 790 556 from Sunday to Friday.