G-L you may find this interesting. What next Africa?
Ghosts Invade Kenyan Schools
July 19, 2000
Tervil Okoko
PANA Correspondent
NAIROBI, Kenya (PANA) - Two secondary schools in Kenya's Central province have
been closed and students sent home following alleged invasion by ghosts, the
Daily Nation has reported.
It indicated that ghosts allegedly invaded Gitogo Mixed Secondary School, about
120 miles north west of Nairobi Thursday night and first targeted boys, who were
thoroughly beaten by the ghosts, causing a stampede. The school was closed
Friday.
The area police chief, Michael Muthike, said the mixed school had been closed
indefinitely.
He could not, however, confirm or deny whether there were ghosts in the school.
"As for that (the presence of ghosts) I cannot comment authoritatively because I
am not well versed in ghost matters," he said.
Muthike added the ghosts then invaded the girls' dormitory Friday night,
showering the roof with a hail of stones. The girls, too, were sent home
Saturday.
The school was completely deserted Tuesday when PANA visited the scene as the
teachers were also said to have taken off in fear of being attacked.
In Lari division, less than 30 miles from Nairobi, more than 300 students of
Kambaa Girls High School were sent home Sunday after an alleged attack by
ghosts.
The students claimed that a senior member of the staff was linked to the evil
spirits.
Claims of alleged invasion by ghosts is increasingly becoming a daily story in
Kenyan schools, and religious leaders have taken a wide berth on the issue.
Already debilitated by an overloaded curriculum, schools in the country are
perpetually living in fear of possible ghost attacks.
The most affected are boarding schools located in the countryside.
However, the authorities seem to have been caught unawares by the phenomenon.
On 3 July, students from Wang'uru Girls Secondary School, Kirinyaga district
(113 miles north-west of Nairobi), stormed the office of the Central Provincial
director of education protesting an alleged invasion of their school by ghosts.
The students said they were terrified by the alleged demons, which they claimed
appeared in form of white cats and black snakes.
They further claimed the creatures, which run around their dormitories, had been
introduced by their head-teacher.
Earlier in June, the member of parliament for Kandara constituency, Stephen
Ndicho, asked the education ministry to resolve a long running dispute at
Gathigi Primary school in Maragua District (about 35 miles north of Nairobi)
where parents withdrew their children alleging the school had been invaded by
ghosts.
Angry parents had stormed the school and took away their children for fear that
they might be attacked by demons.
The parents accused the head-teacher, his deputy, and an assistant teacher of
being behind the school's invasion by evil spirits.
On 26 May, two pupils collapsed during a cleansing ceremony to rid the same
school of an alleged ghost invasion.
The ceremony, conducted by Rev. Fr Elias Murithi of Gachanjoni Parish, ended in
disarray when parents of the collapsed pupils attacked the gathering.
The pupils, however, regained consciousness.
On 18 May, the Daily Nation carried a report saying a primary school in Kitui
district, about 200 miles east of Nairobi, closed and more than 400 pupils sent
home following alleged invasion by ghosts.
A school committee official was accused of having sent the ghosts.
Also in Kitui, pupils of Kathuma Primary School were sent home after demons
allegedly invaded the school. The demons were said to have been strangling the
helpless youngsters.
The parents and school committee consequently raised funds to hire a witchdoctor
from the port town of Mombasa to exorcise the demons.
On 4 July 1999, Muthetheni Girls School in Machakos, about 60 miles east of
Nairobi, closed after girls claimed attacks by unknown forces.
The girls said demons invaded their St. Theresa dormitory and allegedly raped
and beat them up.
Education officials and the government are currently grappling with the problem.
However, they are undecided on whether to employ the services of a ghost buster
or just dismiss the claims as wild imaginations.
"An ominous sub-culture has crept in most secondary schools and this has put our
nation's future at stake," Samuel Kariuki, a senior inspector of schools, said.
He added that the other members of this sub-culture are the touts (known for
their rough mannerisms) and school drop-outs.
He claimed that the sub-culture is increasingly growing into a cult that would
idolise rock musicians and confessed drug abusers.
Kenya's education minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, has dismissed claims of ghost
invasion as fertile but dangerous imagination.
He blamed everything on the rise in drug use among school-going children, saying
all the claims about ghost invasion is fantasy by drugged children.
Kalonzo also attributed the school closures to delinquency among students,
saying if the students were more disciplined, there could be less interruptions
in their study.
He called on parents to bring up their children well to make them responsible
citizens.
However, the minister feels that there are some elements of witchcraft among the
people and he cannot rule out the possibility of some wicked people trying to
disrupt the normal running of schools.
He said the only solution to the problem could be to go to church and believe in
God.
But there are also senior members of the society who believe in witchcraft and
ghosts.
For instance, legislator Jembe Mwakalu, a man who at one time went public to
claim that somebody had bewitched him, says the ghost invasions are real and
Kenyans have to protect themselves against them by wearing protective charms.
Ann Wanjiku Ngatia, a 17-year-old student, who was sent away from school in
October and missed her exams after having been accused of devil worshipping,
believes devils are real and they normally like attacking a group of children,
especially in a school dormitory.
But while claims of ghost attacks abound, ghost busters, fetched from as far as
Vanga (120 miles south of Mombasa on the Kenyan-Tanzania border) and Tanga in
Tanzania, are making a kill as they are called in daily by desperate clients to
defray the effects of the demon attacks.
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