The Bantu communities that first migrated into Kenya settled in different areas. Communities lived separately but interacted through trade as one group always had something of desire to another. There were the Bantus who settled in the central region of what would later be mapped as Kenya, and among these were the Agikuyu, Meru and Embu.
The Embu respected their seers, a special, selected group of people who had a unique power. One of those in Embu history remembered is Prophet Ireri wa Irugi. A mysterious man, known to disappear and appear at will, he was said to do this (by the people who witnessed him) when he was threated, or if he had foreseen danger. There are several who bore witness to this.
Ireri’s home was around the Mount Kenya region. As mentioned, he was from the fierce Embu community that hails from what we now have mapped as Embu County, but back in the day, his community, and the other Bantu communities from that region traded and possibly intermarried. While it isn’t known whether he married, his occupation was strictly prophecy, and for that the Embus trusted the visions he shared with them. The most memorable of his prophecies was that of the white butterflies that would scatter around the Embu territory, and the regions of the Mountain. He also said that these butterflies would soon bring a long animal that moved from the ocean to a lake in the West. The animal, he said, would be used to collect all communities and make them helpless. When the missionaries then the British came and scattered the lands, the prophecy was resurfaced.
His name is also one that can’t be ignored. Ireri wa Irugi means he was the son of Irugi, and in Embu folklore, he is the most famous and memorable prophet who lived.