More than 100 initiates have graduated into manhood, despite a tussle among kikuyu elders on whether the exercise should be undertaken this year or not.
Some elders affiliated to Kiama Kia Ma cultural group conducted the circumcision ceremony despite another group of elders announcing earlier that they would not oversee it.
The elders had disagreed with one faction claiming the Competence Based Curriculum that has domiciled Junior Secondary School in primary schools interfered with the circumcision calendar.
Previously, boys would go through the initiation shortly after completing their KCPE examination.
Kiambu Kiama Kia Ma chairman Kimando Kagwe, however, said elders had to have boys taken through initiation as they had attained the age of 14 years.
Speaking while officiating the graduation ceremony at Hillcrest Academy in Kanunga, Kagwe said the initiates had been counselled and guided by the elders on how to handle adulthood and conduct themselves while in school.
“We circumcise our boys when they reach the age of 14 and not because of the school calendar,” he said.
“We know that the boys who have now graduated into men will be in school with their brothers who are yet to be circumcised and we have instilled in them morals that will guide their conduct during their remaining time in JSS.”
During the ceremony, teachers were enlisted to ease the elders’ interactions with the young men.
“We have talked to teachers on how to handle them and to the young men on how to live with the teachers and other learners, so that they know they’re not superior to others or misbehave,” Kagwe said.
With the exercise already conducted in many areas, the elders said anyone yet to undergo the cut will have to have it done in a hospital or through other entities that undertake it.
Kimani Njogu, an elder, said this year’s initiates will belong to an age group to be known as ‘Gen Z’.
Njogu said as elders, they open centres where the boys are taken through the process and doctors and experts are included to treat and mentor them.
This, he said, enables the elders to instil cultural values to the young adults while moulding their character.
The elders also called on parents to stop over-using disposable diapers on their baby boys, expressing concerns that they could be hampering the full development of their reproductive organs.
The elders said they were concerned after observing that many of the boys circumcised this year had reproductive organs that were reduced in size.
“We saw many boys with small organs and were advised by our medical specialists that it could have been as a result of wearing diapers for too long,” Kagwe said.
Kagwe further said some parents have the tendency of leaving their sons with soiled diapers for a long time, exposing them to risks.
