not so black-and-white
written by Ex-Mungiki , July 20, 2007

You do a nice piece and I am sure that plenty of what you say makes sense. You are ofcourse most accurate when you describe these gangs as simply an expression of entreprenerial skills. I have only one problem with your analysis.

It is your stated claim that gangsters came into being when GOK abdicated its duties. No! we are sons of GOK. Armed, trained and funded to do the dirty work that even the late Julie Ward stumbled upon.

We breathe the same air and drink the same water as your Brig Ali's boys and girls. Some of us were on first name terms. Have you so quickly forgotten the army landrovers?? What about the huge march in Downtown Nairobi as police looked on?

Let us examine the issue of protection and security which has been quoted by many who say that at least Mungiki can operate where cops fear to tread.

The problem with such neat, cut and dry explanations is just how easily people accept them without question. The media perpetuates an untruth and before long it is the accepted reality. NO GO AREAS for Kenya Police? In Kenya? Since when? The reality is less romantic; Protection rackets of this kind could only work with the connivance of police officers at pretty much every level.

To date no senior Mungiki leader has been brought to book for some of the most atrocius crimes ever committed in Kenya. Does that not raise doubts about GOK resolve? I remember once when a mungiki mob cruised down the streets beating and undressing any women who they felt were dressed in poor fashion. That is when GOK should have acted.

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written by Kamale , July 20, 2007

First we need to look at the possibility that Mungiki would not have flourished if it had not been seen as useful political tool where its members would have made good voting machines. We should also remember that Mungiki very quickly filled the void left by the Kanu youthwingers who did exactly the same stuff Mungiki is being accused of today. Fleecing matatu and bus owners under the guise of controlling bus stages, offering vigilante service in the run down slum areas where the police were too lazy to venture into and in the process spawned protection rackets.

This government came in too late as it continually turned a blind eye on the problem and the group progessively grew out of proportion. I am not sure anyone can say with certainty that the Mungiki we have today still pledge allegiance to Njenga Maina or Ndura Waruinge whom they did to prior to 2002. Is it possible that Mungiki has fragmented and is under leadership of disparate personalities? Is it possible that Mungiki could have spread out under different families ala the Mafia? For instance, is the Mungiki of Kangema under the same leadership with Mungiki of Banana/Karuri?

Perhaps as ex-mungiki has claimed, the media in the same laziness mode that they have perfected, i.e. no investigation and rumours quickly turning into fact, has probably missed all this. They have probably joined the police who in their failure to fight and investigate crime will be quick to blame every grissly murder on the Mungiki, and then poor us believe that we probably have a severe crime crisis.

So will the tracing and arresting 'senior mungiki' (if we can actually identify them!) lead to the end of the scourge? I do not think so, but if you do trace them, jailing may perhaps not be the solution. But even more important is the police must act fast to stop further recruitment of the young and jobless into this group, whilst the government targets this vulnerable group with incentives such the NYS etc. Perhaps then we can tame the menace and then manage it.

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written by emmo opoti , July 21, 2007

At the turn of the Century, when I was a student in the lower part of Central Province, the security situation was much the same as it is today. On the random day you had your grisly murder scene, and many of these seemed to me to be part ritualisitc, like the skinning of the two-year old recently. But these were not limited to humans, you will remember of course similar incidents with donkeys in Kimabu. Is this Mungiki? There are similar murders in other countries, and in parts of Kenya where Mungiki do not tread, what do the papers have to say?
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Onyango Oloo wrote a piece recently, published here, where he desribed how some of the residents of the slums wished they could join Mungiki, and that they held its exclusivity of membership against it. So your analysis is accurate, Kimani. They went in and provided what the government was unable to provide.
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Kamale,
We have been brainwashed into a terror of everything that is traditional. You see someone taking snuff, or making incantations, or referring to their ancestors, or dressed in animal gear and you automatically go into a panic. Not you of course, but the average Kenyan. This is part of the reason why we are so terrified of Mungiki.
I have always held that there were many varied elements to the group. Some of them were purely in the cultural arm of it, others in the religious, and others in the neighbourhood watch aspect of it, and others purely in it for support to their criminal enterprises. The failure of the GoK, and the Press to see this self-evident truth will delay the resolution of this conflict by so many more years. Dividing Mungiki into its good and bad elements will be crucial if we are to avoid the continuous bloodbaths and eternal resentment that will follow from the brash antics of the serikali.
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Is oath-taking illegal, or is oath-taking with a view to violence? Is taking an oath sufficient grounds for illegal execution? Even of minors? What of winning hearts and minds? That count for anything?