Ilmorog’s “diviner” and mysterious spiritual leader, Mwathi wa Mugo advises the town elders on matters of spirituality and serious difficulty. When Wanja comes to Ilmorog seeking advice for her infertility, her grandmother Nyakinyua takes her to Mwathi wa Mugo, who suggests Wanja should have sex on the new moon to get pregnant but also accuses her of having sinned. Wanja takes his advice but does not confess to him that she killed her first baby. During Ilmorog’s drought, Mwathi wa Mugo tells the village elders to sacrifice a goat and Abdulla’s donkey; saving the donkey, which Abdulla loves, is part of Karega and Wanja’s motivation to organize Ilmorog’s delegation seeking aid from MP Nderi wa Riera to mitigate the drought’s effects. The elders do sacrifice the goat, though not the donkey; when the drought ends, they credit Mwathi wa Mugo. When developers build part of the Trans-Africa Road through Mwathi wa Mugo’s sacred land, they discover materials of archeological importance; the road is diverted, and academics descend on the site. The displacement of Mwathi wa Mugo by development (the road) and academics (formal, colonial education) represents European-controlled, capitalist modernity’s destruction of Ilmorog’s traditional way of life.