Religious Association Launches Cult Probe

Panafrican News Agency, 10 December 2000

Nairobi, Kenya - A Kenyan Christian Association says it has set up a Commission to probe "devil worship" in learning institutions countrywide.

The Commission to begin operation in January 2001, is expected to come up with a report on the current situation and possible solution, of cult practices, said to be rampant in many learning institutions in Kenya.

Peter Nyarogwa, Secretary General of the Christian Churches Education Association (CCEA), said Sunday in Mombasa at a conference on institutional leadership, that devil worship in Kenyan learning institutions was increasing at an alarming rate.

He said the CCEA probe report, to be made public on completion, will suggest solutions and how to curb the practice.

It will also recommend to the authorities, stern actions to be taken against individuals found luring students into the practice.

Nyarogwa claimed that some devil worshippers were luring unsuspecting students into the cult.

He cited instances where prominent personalities have reportedly lured girl students to join a movement suspected to be involved in devil worship.

"During our discussions here, a head teacher from Embu (Eastern Province) surprised us when he recounted how he discovered that his students were being smuggled from a boarding school he heads, to go and drink human blood, eat human flesh and then tattooed with razor blades," Nyarogwa alleged.

The CCEA's probe will mark the first time an independent Commission is probing cult practice in Kenya.

A Presidential Commission of inquiry into devil worship, earlier set up by government, has since submitted its findings to President Daniel arap Moi.

But results of the inquiry are however, yet to be made public, despite appeals from citizens, legislators and religious bodies.

Nyarogwa said Sunday that the report of the Presidential Commission was incomplete and did not offer tangible solution to the increasing devil worship practice in Kenya.

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