Last week, I mentioned in passing “prophetess” Mary Wanjiru, the Kinangop MP who stopped Kimani wa Nyoike’s return to Parliament in 1992.
Wanjiru, who styled herself as “God's prophet”, was a blend of faith and politics. How she interpreted her place in Parliament always intrigued journalists who covered her.
But, she created her own space in Parliament and attacked those who tried to box her into parliamentary normalcy. Nobody was spared.
“When I came here,” she told Parliament in her first speeches, “I thought I had come to ‘heaven’, but I was surprised and really ashamed…I found a lot of witchcraft in the House…Only God will save us from the thieves whom I see here…”
By the time of the Ford Asili nominations, most of the political giants in Central Kenya had run to Mwai Kibaki’s Democratic Party (DP) since Kenneth Matiba was late in starting his campaigns — until the last minute when he did a whirlwind tour that turned the tables on the DP candidates.
During this whirlwind tour, Wanjiru was endorsed by Matiba, who asked his followers to vote “three-piece”. Nationally, Wanjiru was unknown.
It was in Parliament that Wanjiru would cause drama — after she introduced herself as a “prophet” sent by God to deliver messages and save the institution from witchcraft and thieves.
“I have a duty, and I owe Kenyans an explanation as to the work of a prophet. Normally, when people go astray, God wants them to be corrected. He has to send the message and inform the prophet so that the prophet can pass the message to the people,” she said.
And that is how Wanjiru positioned herself early enough. She was not a fanatical Christian. At one point, she said that God had sent her to ask the Kenyan nation to register “Islamic College,” saying that “one of the mistakes that has upset God is the refusal to register the college.” She urged the Moi government to give a chance to the Muslims to “educate their youth and to integrate with the Christians and people of other denominations”.
Wanjiru had elevated herself above Parliament and as the “intercessor” between Parliament and God. She saw herself as the person to deliver the messages and was above religion.
“My job here, and I am dispensing it with the utmost integrity, is to hold on to God’s powers so that the nation does not disintegrate. We have seen situations where issues of land and money tear men apart, and that is why I am here to support this Parliament and inform you of what is going on, and I will keep praying for this nation to the end,” she once said.
Wanjiru then surprised many of her radical Ford Asili party members when she said she would start cooperating with President Moi's Kanu. Indeed, President Moi visited her Kinangop constituency on April 4, 1995, and the MP asked her Ford Asili colleagues “to emulate the spirit of cooperation”. A year earlier, before his death, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga had broken off from the Opposition ranks and started cooperating with Moi — a move that split Ford-Kenya.
By then, Kenneth Matiba had started boycotting parliamentary proceedings and only made “technical appearances” to safeguard his seat. Through that cooperation between Wanjiru and Kanu, Kinangop was elevated into a sub-district.
But it was her contributions on the floor of the House that show us how religion has been appropriated in Kenya’s politics. I am relating this because we can soberly learn a few things.
In 1995, when Wanjiru was given a chance to contribute to the Budget, she surprised Parliament, thus: “Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker (it was Moses Wetang’ula in the Chair), God has told me to summarise this Budget in one statement: for God is going to sustain Kenya at whatever cost.
He is going to preserve the peace prevailing in our nation. As far as the Budget speech is concerned, the Minister for Finance should consider acquiring and owning the Magadi Soda Company. I have been told by God to request the British government and the Queen to keep away from Magadi Soda Company. We were given a resource by God. It should be generating more than Sh2 billion every month.”
But Wanjiru had no time for Wetang’ula and warned the Speaker: “Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to deliver this prophecy, and if you stand in the way, you might be…”
Her voice was drowned by laughter from the House, which did not deter Wanjiru. “Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, this is a prophecy…”
It was at that point that Dr Mukhisa Kituyi rose on a point of order and asked the chair whether it was in order for Wanjiru to “use the name of God as a justification for statements in a way that suggests that God is a Kanu youthwinger”.
Wanjiru was not amused, and she decided to take on Kituyi: “Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, you had better protect these men from incurring a curse. I have been given the power to curse those who oppose what God is telling me to say. This exposes the ignorance on the part of the so-called ‘young Turks’ who do not know where they have come from and where they are going. I do not want any interruptions."
And that is how Wanjiru always fought for her space. For his part, Wetang’ula asked members to allow Wanjiru to make her contribution without any interruption but with a caution: “Hon Wanjiru, you are also advised not to drag the name of God and the Queen to your contribution. Just talk about the Budget.”
That seemed to anger Wanjiru perhaps more than what Kituyi had said. Interestingly, Wanjiru did not spare Wetang’ula either, as the temporary Speaker, and she stood her ground: “I was brought here by God so that I can communicate the messages he gives fearlessly. I have been given the power to do so without any interruption from anybody. I have a right to talk and all these people who are heckling were pressured by Europeans to agitate for multi-partism in this country and they know what they have landed us in. They are now trying to introduce colonialism into this country. They want our country to be colonised by people like (Safina Leader Dr Richard) Leakey. That is why they are coming here to make a lot of noise.”
Dr Leakey was not an MP, and Kiraitu Murungi sought to protect him from Wanjiru’s wrath. Again, Kiraitu wanted action taken against the MP for continuing to invoke the “name of God to peddle cheap politics”. But before Kiraitu finished, Wanjiru had shot back: “Mr Speaker, Hon Murungi is telling us to go behind Leakey. Shame on him. Ulaaniwe kabisa (Be completely cursed)! This nation is not going to be deceived anymore by people who do not even know themselves. How can you refuse me to talk about God, and he is the one who sent me….who are you? Kama unataka (if you want) a curse, just tell me, and then I will remit it, and then you will face the consequences…"
Kiraitu tried to capture the Speaker's attention and Wanjiru went on to deliver his second prophecy: “The other issue that God has told me to talk about is that in the North Eastern Province, we have an oil field and that oil exploration there should be carried out by friends from South Africa and Japan, and nobody should stop them, so that our nation will be self-reliant in oil…”
This seemed to interest members from the province, with Nassir Arte rising on a point of order. “Can Hon Wanjiru go back to God and ask Him which part of North Eastern has oil, and then she can tell us?”
Wetangula ruled Arte’s point of order as “frivolous”, and Wanjiru found an opportunity to say she was chosen to deliver the message “because God could not get somebody who is honest and straightforward, because men are so deceptive. That is why He decided to bring me here as His messenger, to communicate his messages”.
She would then dismiss Kituyi and Kiraitu Murungi as MPs “who do not know what they came to do in Parliament”. But asked to withdraw that remark, she told the Speaker. “I withdraw…maybe they need political polishing, and that is why I am advising them.”
The other personality she decided to take on was Mwai Kibaki, who she told to keep off Kinangop Constituency “if he does not want consequences from the laws of God. He has been coming on and off to my constituency without even informing me…”
When a Democratic Party MP tried to interject, Wanjiru made another remark: “I do not want this interruption because these are ignorant men who came to Parliament to fill their tummies, and we are not interested in people who are only….exposing their political ignorance.”
At one point, she tabled medicine in the House and claimed it was the cure for HIV/Aids. She later complained that the Ministry of Health had not followed up on the issue with her. She also attacked a former Nyandarua District Commissioner and claimed that he had siphoned money allocated to Nyandarua and put up a building along Nairobi’s Jogoo Road. Challenged by John Michuki to name the DC, Wanjiru told Parliament: “The name is none other than Ezekiel Machogu and he was transferred to another District.”
During her tenure, Wanjiru was in a class of her own and did not spare anyone. She maintained that she was only a “prophetess” sent by God. Many others have followed her path into politics — or in influencing politics.
