The mungiki mayhem

The dreaded Mungiki sect members staged a violent protest that paralyzed the Matatu transport sector for close to five days running in a daring move that kept the security forces puzzling with diminutive efforts to contain them.

They caught the police unawares in what seemed to be a well premeditated move to vent their anger and demonstrate to the government and the general public that the sect still existed with a steadfast fabric wiling and able to execute their missions in a large and wider scale without fear.

The plans which lodged police officers pants down with no idea of prior arrangements fueled discontent over the credibility and capacity of the force to successfully wipe out the gang that has its tentacles well established in the Matatu industry.

The adherents unleashed simultaneous terror in major town at dawn lit bonfires and barricaded major roads leaving majority of Kenyans who depend on public transport stranded or walking long distances.
The sect was protesting the killing of Virginia Nyakio wife to their leader Maina Njenga who is serving a 5-year term in prison. She was allegedly carjacked with her driver and their bodies found damped in a forest two days after the horrendous incident.

They went on rampage destroying property in the dawn incident and engaged the police in running battles for four days. Matatus found operating were reduced to ashes and operators killed while others were brutally bitten up and warned of dire consequences if they dared venture to the road again
Joe Waijango, the national leader of the National Youth Alliance ( NYA ) came on television and declared that the protests were carried out by members of his organization and that it had nothing to do with the outlawed Mungiki.

He said the youths were protesting for unemployment and age old historical injustices that had been propagated by successful regimes.
Although the police insisted that they had contained the sect the situation however remained tense with Matatu owners withdrawing their matatus from the road for fear that they could be burnt.

The protests were staged barely a day after the naming of the grand cabinet in the grand coalition government the was formed after weeks of tense negotiations and haggling to end the political crisis which left more than 1200 people dead and 350,000 others internal refugees.
The sect leader called off the protests on the day the cabinet was being sworn in after Prime Minister Raila Odinga extended an olive branch to them to table their genuine demands and engage in dialogue with the government.

Efforts by the police to contain the sect which each day comes with well orchestrated names remain futile with reports that a special unit that had been mobilized within the police force to track down the sect and which was planned to start their work on the fateful day when the protests were called indicate that it has since been disbanded.

On March, thousands of Mungiki adherents staged a daring demonstration in Nairobi streets demanding the release of their leader, Maina Njenga, who is jailed for five years for illegal possession of firearms. In a show of defiance, the demonstrators who caught police unaware marched to Vigilance House, the police headquarters, carrying placards stating that there would be no peace unless Njenga was released.

The incidents reveal that the sect has a firm grip in the Matatu industry with well connected people safeguarding interests. Indeed, investigations reveal that the gang is back in the transport industry
where the members have designed sophisticated means that are even baffling the security agents. The sect, according to sources, has established a firm grip on the industry with a chain of command making it difficult for security agents to penetrate. Despite the government declaring all out war on the sect two years ago in which scores of the sect members were arrested and others killed, it now
appears that efforts by then Internal Security minister, John Michuki, were in vain.

Michuki and Police Commissioner, Hussein Ali, formed the famous Kwekwe Special Police Unit to deal with the sect in Nairobi, Central Province and parts of Rift Valley where it had established firm roots. But that now appears to be history as the sect has crept back where it is extorting money from Matatu operators in the guise of providing security, and drivers and conductors who defy the order are
harassed, abducted or even killed.

The sources say the gang started creeping back in the sector immediately the country was engulfed in post-election violence that was sparked by the Electoral Commission of Kenya’s (ECK) announcement that President Mwai Kibaki was the winner of presidential race in 2007 General Election. Realizing that the country’s security agents had turned their attention to containing the violence, the gang resurfaced where Matatu operators, drivers and conductors were coerced
into parting with protection fee.

The gang first took control of bus stations where they would decide on the amount of money commuters were to pay to be ferried to either their homes or work. Since the political atmosphere was then volatile, and Traffic Police officers had joined their colleagues in battling demonstrators and looters, the Matatu operators had no choice but to abide by the gang’s order particularly in Nairobi, parts of Rift
Valley and Central Province.

And with that, the gang slowly found itself back in the Matatu sector. However, some commuters say the resurfacing of the sect is a scheme by both the gang and the Matatu owners to exploit them, arguing that rarely do the Public Service Vehicles (PSV) owners report to the police on the activities of the sect. Others wonder why the gang operates in daylight at bus stations and even police on patrol
do not bother to arrest them.

Commuters also blame the government over the sect’s comeback, saying the directive by President Mwai Kibaki during last year’s campaigns where conductors and drivers were exempted from wearing uniform had compounded the problem as the police are unable to differentiate between Mungiki and genuine Matatu crews. They also accuse
some police officers of working in cahoots with the gang which gives them part of the loot to avoid arrest. Indeed, when the gang took to the streets two weeks back, it was to show the police and the public that it still exists, and more so, in hundreds of thousands.

But commuters again blamed the police over the protest wondering how a group of about 5,000 youths would hit the city without their knowledge. Either, the commuters add, the police are inept in their work or chose to ignore the demonstration. However, the arrest of more than 200 Mungiki members who were taking oath at Nairobi’s Kayole estate is an indication that the force has what it takes to contain the gang. Severally, police spokesman, Erick Kiraithe, has asserted that Mungiki or any other proscribed grouping, remains banned in the
country and that police were on high alert to contain the same.

“As far as we are concerned, they are illegal entities whose operations cannot be allowed. They remain banned in the country,” said Kiraithe. But since 2002 when the sect was officially banned, it has undergone a metamorphosis where members no longer sniff tobacco in public, retain the trademark dreadlocks or pray facing Mt Kenya. Today, the adherents wear suits, casual clothes and their hair is well
trimmed.

The sect has tremendously undergone a metamorphosis since it first emerged in 1980s where it was inspired by the bloody Mau Mau rebellion of 1950s against the British colonial rule. It started as a religious movement opposed to the trappings of western culture like films, alcohol, miniskirts and also embraced female circumcision. Later, the sect’s leaders including Njenga and then National
Coordinator, Ndura Waruinge, embraced Islam as a way of avoiding arrest by the Moi government.

But the move forced the Muslim leaders to distance themselves from the sect saying it had a hidden agenda and practicing double standards. A Muslim scholar, Sheikh Mohammed, warned that the community would not allow a few people to play around with Islam. Mohammed was irked by the gang after its leaders met some Muslim leaders and pledged to convert thousands of Kenyan youths to Islam in two years.

But the sect later found itself on the receiving end after the members started harassing women wearing miniskirts. Today, the members who illegally man Matatu termini from the Central Business District (CBD) to estates have introduced what has been dubbed as “fares of the moment” where fares are determined by the number of commuters and the time. Members board matatus and as they approach terminus pose as conductors, shouting ‘fares of the moment’, which often earn them 40 per cent of what is paid by the passengers. According to the survey, conductors only surface to collect the money and pay the gang its dues.

The adherents make at least Sh500 per route from each vehicle and the daily loot varies from each route depending on the number of vehicles. The sect members are known to operate undercover in stations they perceive to be insecure due to heavy police presence but nominate a leader who in turn assign them responsibilities.

The leader ostensibly assumes the role of collecting the loot from members on various beats which is later shared among them depending on individual’s efforts. A member of the cartel who spoke to the Big issue on condition of anonymity intimated that they have even formed welfare associations where they contribute premiums every day with a senior official ensuring the loot is banked. The sect is deeply rooted in Nairobi estates and they control fares from their stations to Town.
The sect members collects Sh500 from buses and Sh200 from Nissan Matatus which is later handed to the chairman for banking.

Every vehicle commencing operations on any route within the city is required to pay Sh20.000-30,000 to the gang before being allowed to operate.