On Sunday, April 19, Njuri Njeke elders of the Meru community and local administration chiefs conducted prayers in the Nyambene forest to ward off the spread of the deadly coronavirus in their region.
Njuri Njeke chairman Linus Katheka informed that the elders had gathered to plead with God bring an to end the Covid-19 disease in the country.
"We have come to Nyambene forest for prayers. We came to the forest with sheep which we will slaughter as a form of sacrifice and we know God is going to listen to us.
"God has blessed us with rainfall today and we know that it will sweep away the Covid-19 virus," Katheka stated.
In a video published by the Daily Nation, the elders declared that no individual from the Meru community would die of the disease.
The elders then spit on the ground as one elders spit in the ear of the sheep.
"We started these prayers last week. All the elders were praying at 12 midnight for this day. They have been praying with their hands up as a sign of surrender to the Lord.
"What you see on our heads will be taken to all the borders of Meru County, and we will defeat Covid-19," he added.
Their prayers came a day after elders from the Mijikenda Kaya asked the government to give them a chance to begin offering ancient remedies as a means of treating the Coronavirus.
The elders indicated that they were ready to begin treating the virus and were only awaiting the government's greenlight.
They explained that they had allegedly established a link between the Coronavirus pandemic with a disease called Kivuti which ravaged the Ukambani region in the 1950s.
According to the elders, the traditional means used to treat the disease at the time was largely a success and they expected the same to be replicated with the global pandemic.
