Road accidents, human blood sacrifice and the elections

The electioneering period in the country is one of the most electrifying moments, a circle that repeats itself every five years. It is occasioned by the grandiose of politicians trying to outdo each other from the social media platforms to the marketplaces, where they engage in all manners of attention seeking theatrics.

All these things are done with the hopes of capturing a seat, from the Members of the County Assembly to the highest office in land. In the murky waters of politics, the rules of engagement are thin and from using money to buy acres of spaces to advertise their ambitions, to using black magic to win by hook or crook, it is believed that they can do anything!

Talks about Kenyan politicians using witchcraft to win elections do not seem to taper off and with the General Elections less than two months away, the buzz just got louder.

Dark forces are real

Recently, grapevine has it that legions of politicians are trooping to Tanzania to seek help from witchdoctors and one particular area that has played host is said to be Monduli, in Arusha region. This is not the first time that politicians have been accused of using witchcraft.

During electioneering period, deaths happening around members of politician’s families are mostly associated with deviltry and accusations of sacrifices. Rival groups even result to name calling such as mganga. A lot of road accidents and bloodshed happening months to elections are sometimes attributed to sacrifices offered by politicians to win seats.

Pastor Theophilus Musyoka of Word Assembly Church Thika, says according to the Bible, spiritual realm consists of both good—God and the holy angels—and evil—the devil and his demons. Demons are most likely fallen angels who rebelled against God and were thrown out of heaven. “What people don’t understand is that when Lucifer fell from heaven, he was an archangel and had powers. This is what he uses to control his people and those who believe in his powers are controlled by such. When we have people consult evil spirits, they make pact with these forces and give power to them and in return are asked to make sacrifices of human blood,” he states.

After such pacts are made, Pastor Musyoka says,these forces are able to control certain parts of the world include roads and buildings, and where they reign, it is common to have these human sacrifices and can only be cleansed by higher powers, which he says is the blood of Jesus.

“These places are the altars upon which sacrifices are made and while we might label them as “black spots”, they are altars of the devil and that is why you will often find men of the cloth conducting prayers to wade off these spirits,” he says.

“In Islam we know that there are people who believe in such evil spirits and there are cases of this cited in the holy Quran. As Muslims, we don’t believe in such, but we have heard of these strange accidents. But when you are a believer, they wont affect you, but if you do, there are consequences which includes death,” says Ustadh Abdul Rahman of the Sheikh Nazim Mosque, based at Sultan Hamud.

 Psychiatrist Larreaute Rota says the issue is a deep rooted problem in the African society.“Some politicians believe in supernatural powers, especially in Africa and these forces are quite real and are not just allusions to other phenomena. During the precolonial era, most leaders or those who had political power were believed to have supernatural powers; these powers were and are still believed to be potentially usable for either positive, socially accepted ends or for evil such as fighting off an enemy or selfish, and greedy ends,” she says.

Forms of control

Sociologist Dr Benson Agaya says humans beings are by nature social and spiritual beings and is further divided into two parts: spiritual and physical. “The spiritual is the repository of emotions and character. The source of the material or content of the spirit man is a higher spiritual being; God and to a lesser, but nevertheless significant extent lower spiritual beings that rule various realms — religion, witchcraft, business, education, cultures and  politics,” he says.

He says that it is these spiritual sources of power that fill up human minds, feelings and will. He explains that the objectives of spiritual control (sourced from God or witchcraft as one may choose) are typically four: The first is propotiate (win or restore favour with God or spiritual being), especially in the case of the latter when the spirit is considered capricious or malevolent. Politicians seek propitiation when they believe they may have fallen out of favour with ancestral spirits of authority and leadership

The second is control of forces of nature such as rain or good weather. “They may seek witchcraft to turn forces of nature in their favour at campaign events or to ruin their opponents’ events such as heavy rains or mud that get their vehicles stuck,” he says.

They may also ward off sickness or harm from violence and disruptions. Finally, they seek to control other human beings — gain hypnotic and irrational support from segments of society, financial support and fanatical support among rally attendees.

“This is idolatry and the Bible says in Proverbs 29:2 that ‘When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked rule, the people mourn’” says Pastor Musyoka.