Tragedy strikes Kabonokia sect family: Child dies after parents refuse treatment
ACommunity Health Volunteer Julius Igandura and a village elder Daniel Kinyua traverses Makithi village in Tharaka constituency, Tharaka-Nithi County informing residents of measles outbreak on July 23, 2023.
Mr Mukundi Nkware, a Kobonokia sect follower, is not worried about the death of his first-born daughter, but the other five children being treated at Marimanti Level Four Hospital against his beliefs.
Makena Mukundi, a Form Three student at Turima Hills Day Secondary School in Tharaka Constituency, succumbed to measles at home on Saturday morning while her parents and other followers of the sect prayed for her in line with their doctrine which considers seeking treatment 'satanic'.
Members of the sect believe that God is the only healer and that it is sinful to seek treatment from fellow human beings or even to take the dead to the mortuary.
After receiving the report of the girl's death, the local administration and police officers from Marimanti police station visited the family in Makithi village, Karocho location, and found the body lying in the house while Mr Mukundi and the other Kabonokia followers continued with their prayers.
The other five children, four boys and a girl, were sleeping in the house, waiting for God to heal them in spite of their deteriorating condition.
The officers took the body to Marimanti Level Four Hospital Mortuary and the five children, together with their mother, Ms Wambui Mukundi, to the hospital where they are admitted.
The officers also arrested Mr Mukundi and took him to Marimanti Police Station where he recorded a statement and was released in the evening.
When Nation.Africa visited the family on Sunday morning, accompanied by village elder Daniel Kinyua, and the Community Health Volunteer (CHV), Mr Julius Igandura, Mr Mukundi was having a conversation with his fellow believers.
After introductions, Mr Mukundi said that although he was devastated by the death of his beloved daughter, he was not shocked because it was "God's will" and that "she had prepared herself for death".
He added that his daughter had told him on Tuesday that she was fully prepared to leave the world and that the family should not worry.
"I have pain in my heart for losing my beloved daughter, but it is God's will. We played our part by praying for her healing but it was time for her to leave this sinful world," Mr Mukundi told the Nation, quoting several Bible verses that speak of God's healing power, and death.
He said his children have not been vaccinated, have never been to hospital since birth, have never been on any medication, and that whenever they fell ill he prayed and they recovered.
Family members
He added that when he was arrested and taken to the police station, he clearly stated that his faith healed him and his family members whenever they fell ill and that he was not ready for 'earthly healing'.
Mr Kinyua told Nation.Africa that the children contracted the disease from their aunt, a second-year university student who is also a Kabonokia believer.
The aunt, who has since recovered, returned home from university after falling ill so that she could be prayed for.
Unlike Mr Mukundi, who has educated his children, most Kabonokia believers do not send their children to school, claiming that some of the teachings in school are against the Bible.
They also do not acquire national identity cards, they do not participate in the census and do not vote during elections.
Members of the sect don't engage in trade or seek employment because their "work on earth is to worship God and to have just enough to feed their children" and to help those in need because they are "passers-by".
Men and women wait for 'the Holy Spirit' to direct them through one of them, on whom to marry, and women are not allowed to speak or even ask a question during their worship meeting.
Because they are 'just walkers on the earth', they do not build permanent buildings for the church, but meet every Sunday for worship in a member's home.
Kabonokia's headquarters remain at the home of the late regional leader Gitonga M'Mpunguru in Irunduni village, a few kilometres from the rural home of Cabinet Secretary for Interior Kithure Kindiki, Tharaka Nithi Senator Mwenda Gataya and Tharaka MP Gitonga Murugara.
Believers from Tharaka Nithi, Embu, Meru and Kitui counties often gather at M'Mpunguru's home for prayers.
M'Mpunguru, who died in September 2020 at the age of 71, had led the sect for more than 50 years and was buried immediately in accordance with the sect’s teachings, which do not allow the body to be placed in a coffin.
