"Church takes up role of initiating youth to adulthood"
by Kirubi Maina and Boniface Gikandi ("The Standard", December 07, 2008)
Nairobi, Kenya - As Mungiki recruits youths to its ranks in Central Province, churches have gone a step ahead to win hearts of young people.
Across the province, denominations have organised boys in groups, with church elders and priests offering counselling sessions.
In Murang’a, church elders say the move is aimed at keeping boys away from the notorious Mungiki gangs, which have been recruiting children.
As soon as schools close, parents surrender their children to churches, which take them for circumcision and guidance sessions in church compounds and schools.
Most of the boys sat their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations.
"The church is no longer a place where people only go for worship on Sundays. It is now a home to the youth," says Mr Eston Wahome, caretaker of 87 boy initiates at St Mary’s Immaculate Catholic Church, Nyahururu.
Church leaders reckon that parents are too busy to find time for their children.
In traditional African setting, circumcision marked initiation into adulthood.
Life skills
Boys were taken to camps and advised on life skills. That is no longer the case.
"We are trying to fill the gap," says Mr Harun Ngere, the Nyahururu Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) moderator.
Ngere says that with modernity gripping society, the church has stood up to ensure the cultural gap is filled and morality ensured.
"We offer topics important to the growing child," says Mr Martin Njenga, the parish priest in charge of Ngarua Holy Family Catholic Church, Kinamba, in Laikipia West District.
In Murang’a, some leaders, who asked not to be named, said they wanted to save boys from joining Mungiki.
The area is the epicentre of Mungiki, and students in primary and secondary schools are said to have been forced to join the sect.
The Rev Arthur Mwangi of Anglican Church, Kahuhia, said the sessions are informative.
Mwangi, who is also the principal of Kamacharia Secondary School in Mathioya, says he counsels on HIV at Shalom Centre which has 75 boys drawn from the district.
Save youth
Another preacher, the Rev Timothy Gichere of Kahuhia ACK Church says the church has taken the lead to save the youth.
"Most parents have much work load due to high cost of living and have little time for their children. The church has to fill the gap," he said.
Mr James Mburu, whose son, Gerald Mugo, is at Shalom, says this is the best thing that ever happened to the youth.
Another parent, Ms Margaret Njoki, said the services were in high demand, and parents book early for vacancies.
Mr Absalom Githinji, a caretaker in charge of 18 initiates at the Nyahururu AIC church, says spiritual initiation is given precedence as the boys are moulded to fear the Lord and respect their parents.
Ngere, the Nyahururu PCEA moderator, says the effects of urbanisation have made the church seek an alternative form of initiation.
"Kibaki orders Mungiki crackdown"
by Wilfred Muchire ("Daily Nation", December 05, 2008)
Nairobi, Kenya - President Kibaki has ordered a crackdown on the outlawed Mungiki sect that has been blamed for causing mayhem in some parts of the country.
He said the group, which has been linked with the killings of more than 10 people in his Othaya constituency in the past month, would be dealt with ruthlessly.
“We are aware of what is happening and we shall not allow it; the killings must stop. The state machinery will catch up with those behind the mayhem,” Mr Kibaki said at Othaya town after touring his constituency.
He was accompanied by Cabinet ministers George Saitoti, Chris Obure and Esther Murugi and assistant ministers Wilfred Machage, Lee Kinyanjui and Orwa Ojode and Kieni MP Nemesysus Warugongo.
No justification
The Head of State urged the locals to assist security officers by volunteering information.
“I know you know what is happening and who is behind it. There is no justification on why the incidents are occurring here,” he told them.
On leadership wrangles, the president said: “Why do people fight over leadership and we all know that one cannot make himself a leader without the blessings of the public?”
Local leaders led by CDF chairman Karanja Mwangi and Othaya Development Association chairman Gichuki Mugambi accompanied the president on an inspection tour of various projects in the area.
Mr Obure said the government will rehabilitate about 112 kilometres of roads in the area while Prof Saitoti pledged to deploy more security officers in the area following complaints by locals over rising insecurity blamed on the members of the sect.
The leaders criticised a road contractor for the delaying rehabilitation of some roads.
Prof Saitoti announced that Nyeri South district had been split into two to form Nyeri Central (Tetu and Nyeri Town divisions) and Nyeri South (Othaya and Mukurwe-ini).
Mr Machage urged the president to order investigations into maize crisis in the country.
“The issue of maize must be investigated before it turns to be another Goldenberg scam,” Mr Machage said.
The president and other speakers steered clear of political matters and even failed to respond to Mr Warugongo’s quest for MPs to pay taxes like other Kenyans.
Mr Kibaki is Saturday expected to tour Mukurwe-ini, Mathira and Nyeri towns.
Others who accompanied him were political activist Mary Wambui.
"Mungiki sect leader is shot dead"
(BBC, April 28, 2008)
Nairobi, Kenya - The chairman of the Kenya National Youth Alliance - the political wing of the outlawed Mungiki sect - has been shot dead in his car.
It comes less than a fortnight after the wife of the sect's jailed leader was found beheaded, sparking riots in Nairobi and surrounding areas.
It is understood that Charles Ndungu was shot in his car as he headed to the lakeside resort town of Naivasha.
Human rights activists say he had reported he was being followed.
The Kenya National Youth Alliance brought parts of Nairobi to a standstill less than a fortnight ago.
At least 14 people died as they engaging in running battles with the police, who they had blamed for the recent murder of their jailed leader's wife - charges the police denied.
It was only after Kenya's new Prime Minister Raila Odinga agreed to meet the group and address their concerns, that threats of further disruption were withdrawn.
The Mungiki, mainly drawn from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group, run transport rackets in the capital and are likened to Kenya's version of the mafia.
Last year, more than 100 suspected sect members were killed in a police crackdown after a series of grisly beheadings blamed on the sect.
"Kenya police tear-gas banned sect"
(BBC, April 18, 2008)
Nairobi, Kenya - Police in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have fired tear gas at women belonging to the outlawed Mungiki sect.
They had been trying to deliver a petition to new Prime Minister Raila Odinga about their grievances.
The Mungiki called off a week of deadly protests on Thursday after Mr Odinga appealed for dialogue as he was sworn in to head a coalition cabinet.
"Let us stop killing one another," he said, promising to take steps to unite Kenyans after the post-poll crisis.
The Mungiki, mainly drawn from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group, run transport rackets in the capital and are likened to Kenya's version of the mafia.
Ethnic tensions were behind much of the chaos that erupted after December's disputed presidential poll.
Some 1,500 people died and 600,000 fled their homes in the violence.
Mr Odinga and Mr Kibaki signed a deal in February which prescribed an equal share of power.
Patrols
"We have been to hell and back. We must preserve the sanctity of our nation and remain united but our unity cannot be based on words and goodwill alone," Mr Odinga said on Thursday.
The women say the petition was being delivered to his party's headquarters in response to Mr Odinga's speech.
Earlier, Mungiki spokesman Njuguna Gitau Njuguna said the group wanted to give Mr Odinga time to address its grievances, which include the release of its jailed leader Maina Njgenga.
The violence this week, which has killed 14 people, was sparked by the death of the Mr Njgenga's wife, who was found beheaded last weekend.
The BBC's Noel Mwakugu in Nairobi says dozens of policemen are patrolling the streets of Nairobi in anticipation of chaos ahead of her burial.
On Thursday night, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe warned that they would apprehend anybody who attempted to hijack the funeral to commit a breach of peace.
"We have information that people wanted by police for serious crimes have planned to assemble during the burial to further illegal activities anyone who attempts this will be arrested," Mr Kiraithe said.
The Mungiki is angered by the police action and want a special unit set to counter their activities to be disbanded.
Last year, more than 100 suspected sect members were killed in a police crackdown after a series of grisly beheadings blamed on Mungiki.
"Kenyans killed in sect protests"
(BBC, April 14, 2008)
Nairobi, Kenya - Reports from Kenya say police have shot dead at least 12 people amid protests across the country.
Members of the illegal Mungiki sect were protesting after the discovery of the beheaded body of the wife of the sect's leader at the weekend.
Youths blocked roads with burning tyres and vehicles and attacked motorists in the capital Nairobi, and several towns in the Rift Valley region.
A Nairobi commuter train was derailed after protesters tore up the tracks.
Youths also torched a police building in the capital, while the police fired bullets and teargas in attempts to end the protests.
Clashes were also reported in the western towns of Naivasha, Nakuru and Eldoret.
In all, at least 12 people were killed, according to reports from the news agency AFP and the local private radio station Kiss FM.
Extortion
Public transport into Nairobi from the suburbs, and in the Central and Rift Valley provinces, is suffering severe disruption following the clashes, which broke out over the weekend.
The Mungiki sect is accused of running protection rackets that squeeze millions of Kenyan shillings a day from the minibus network that is the backbone of public transport in Kenya.
The beheaded body of Virginia Nyaiko, wife of jailed sect leader Maina Njenga, was recovered by relatives and members of the sect, who accuse a section of the police force of being behind the killings of its members.
National police spokesman Eric Kiraithe denied any police involvement in the killings as "totally false accusations."
"Why [would] the police want to kill this woman? If we are interested in the wife of the criminal we would have taken her to court," he told AP news agency.
The Mungiki sect, which first emerged in the 1980s, is said to have been initially inspired by the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s against British colonial rule.
But since then it is said to have undergone a metamorphosis, with members turning to horrific crimes and now likened to Kenya's version of the Mafia.
A surge in murders and attacks associated with the sect last year prompted a police crackdown. But humans rights groups have condemned what they say are extrajudicial killings by police in its campaign against the Mungiki.
"200 sect members held in Kenya"
("News 24", April 04, 2008)
Nairobi, Kenya - Some 200 members of a banned sect linked to murders and beheadings, as well as killings during recent post-election violence, were arrested in the Kenyan capital over the past three days, police said on Thursday.
The sect, mainly drawn from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, has been accused of carrying out some of the killings that occurred during violence that claimed at least 1 500 lives after disputed elections on December 27.
The arrests came after police launched a house-to-house crackdown on the Mungiki sect on Tuesday in the capital's Kayole slums and outlying areas, said area police commander Leonard Omolo.
"The operation will continue because these people are the ones responsible for most of the crimes committed in the area," he said. "No amount of protests from residents will stop police operations.
Two suspects were shot and seriously wounded when they resisted arrest, officials said.
Once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who embraced traditional rituals, authorities say the Mungiki sect has evolved into a ruthless gang blamed for criminal activities that include extortion and murder.
Since March last year, the sect has been blamed for murdering dozens of people, including 14 beheadings, mainly in slum districts of the capital Nairobi and in central Kenya.
Police have responded with a heavy-handed crackdown, killing scores of Mungiki adherents.
"Kenya Police Fire Teargas to Halt Gang Protest"
(Reuters, March 05, 2008)
Nairobi, Kenya - Kenyan police fired teargas on Wednesday to scatter street protests by hundreds of young men demanding the release of a former leader of the outlawed Mungiki gang from prison.
Police in riot gear chased the protesters through downtown Nairobi, frightening residents still on edge after post-election violence which killed more than 1,000 people and forced 300,000 from their homes.
"We demand the immediate release of Maina Njenga and his cars, which were impounded by the police," a statement given to Reuters by a rioter said.
John Maina Njenga, a former leader and founder member of the Mungiki criminal gang, is serving a five-year sentence for possession of an illegal firearm.
Mungiki, which means "multitude" in the Kikuyu tribal language is notorious for beheadings, and was accused of killing hundreds of people during the post-election violence.
Police were not immediately available to comment.
A new power-sharing deal negotiated by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has brought calm to Kenya, and economic activity has resumed.
Last year, police killed at least 33 people in a crackdown on the gang, blamed for a spate of brutal murders in Nairobi and central Kenya.
According to local media, Njenga renounced the gang while in prison, saying he had become a born-again Christian.
Mungiki began in the 1990s as a quasi-religious sect and portrays itself as a champion of the poor.
Police say it is a large organized crime operation, which earns money by extorting protection fees from minibus operators or operating as political muscle-for-hire.
The gang was banned in 2002 after members armed with knives and clubs killed more than 20 people in a Nairobi slum.
"Lawyers say police killed 8,000 Kenyans in sect crackdown"
by Bogonko Bosire (AFP, November 25, 2007)
Nairobi, Kenya - More than 8,000 Kenyans have been executed or tortured to death since 2002 when police launched a crackdown on a banned, politically-linked sect, a group of Kenyan lawyers said Sunday.
The Oscar Foundation said it had "documented 8,040 cases of death by execution and torture perpetuated by state agents and another 4,070 cases of disappearance where victims remain unaccounted for in the period between August 2002 and August 2007".
"A pattern of 'systematic and selective' violation of citizen's right occurs arbitrarily, often the youth and poor people are targeted for brutality, torture and extrajudicial executions," it added in a report.
"It was noted that most of the cases of torture occurred when officers attempted to extract confessions by force while extorting bribes from the suspected adherents," the report explained.
"Those who refuse to part with bribes were blindfolded and led away to the killing fields where they were summarily executed."
The group claimed, "a number of unknown people were secretly buried in pit latrines in (Nairobi's) Mathare and Korogocho slums after a contingent of the dreaded crack General Service Unit - Kenyan police paramilitary wing - mounted a crackdown to wipe out Mungiki operatives from the slum."
But police spokesman Eric Kiraithe dismissed the report, telling AFP: "Police cannot comment on outrageous reports authored by dubious characters.
"If the authors of the report are serious, they should give the names of the victims, places where they were killed and by whom. That way, the claims can be investigated by police and the international community now or in future."
The foundation, made up of human rights lawyers also offer free legal services, offered no specific evidence in its report, called "State Repression".
Earlier this month, the state-run Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) implicated the Kenyan police in the execution-style deaths of nearly 500 men in June and October in its crackdown on the Mungiki sect.
Police also rejected claims in which police were accused of executing the victims with a single bullet in the back of the head. Some of the bodies were recovered in bushes on the outskirts of the capital and others in mortuaries.
Security forces launched a crackdown on the Mungiki sect after it was banned in March 2002 when its members were involved in deadly slum violence in the capital Nairobi that claimed dozens of lives.
Once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who embraced traditional rituals, authorities say the sect has morphed into a ruthless gang blamed for criminal activities including extortion and murder.
Since March, the gang has been accused of murdering at least 43 people - beheading several of their victims - mainly in Nairobi slums and central Kenya.
The wave of killings peaked in June, raising fears of widespread instability in Kenya ahead of general elections due in December, but a police crackdown that killed dozens of Mungiki suspects has since curbed the violence.
At the height of the crackdown, London-based Amnesty International called for an immediate probe, saying police could be guilty of a raft of human rights violations.
The allegations come ahead of a general election in Kenya next month, when President Mwai Kibaki will seek a second and final term in office.
"Kenyan police arrest members of sect blamed for murders"
(AFP, October 24, 2007)
Nairobi, Kenya - Kenyan police arrested eight members of a banned sect, blamed for a string of murders and beheadings, while taking an illegal oath in the capital, an official said Wednesday.
The suspects, who belong to the Mungiki sect, were nabbed in the capital's Korogocho slums overnight Tuesday, said Nairobi divisional police commander Paul Ruto.
"The sect members had slaughtered a goat ready to undertake what is thought to be an oath associated with Mungiki," he said.
"We also recovered other parapharnelia, including machetes, usually associated with the sect," Ruto explained.
The new arrests came as a state-run human rights panel said it was probing disappearances and executions of people, whose bodies have been recovered in bushlands in Nairobi's southern outskirts in recent weeks.
Residents said uniformed police dumped some of at least a dozen bodies found around Kiserian settlement after shooting them at close range, Kenya's Daily Metro newspaper reported on Wednesday.
"We have found evidence that some people have been executed, but we do not know by who. We also have reports that some people have disappeared," said Maina Kiai, the head of state-run Kenya National Commission of Human Rights.
"We are in a process of collecting data and at the same time probing the incidents," Maina told AFP.
Police dismissed the claims, widely reported in local newspapers, that security forces were killing suspects linked to Mungiki, a politically-linked gang that was banned in 2002.
"This is an outrageous lie. You know this is an election year and people can say anything," national police spokesman Erick Kiraithe told AFP.
Once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who embraced traditional rituals, authorities say the Mungiki sect has morphed into a ruthless gang blamed for criminal activities including extortion and murder.
Since March, the gang has been accused of murdering at least 43 people - beheading several of their victims - mainly in Nairobi slums and central Kenya.
The wave of killings peaked in June, raising fears of widespread instability in Kenya ahead of general elections due in December, but a police crackdown that killed dozens of Mungiki suspects has since curbed the violence.
"Kenyan policeman beheaded"
(AFP, September 16, 2007)
Nairobi, Kenya - A Kenyan policeman has been beheaded in the country's central region by members of the notorious Mungiki sect, police said on Sunday.
The 40-year-old officer was decapitated on Saturday in Gatundu, about 40km north-east of the capital, local police commander Hassan Abdi told reporters.
"We were informed about the incident by villagers who spotted the body at around 8am. We then went there and took the body to the mortuary," he added.
Once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who embraced traditional rituals, authorities say the Mungiki sect has morphed into a ruthless gang blamed for criminal activities including extortion and murder.
Since March, the sect has been blamed for murdering at least 42 people, with 14 beheaded, mainly in Nairobi slums and central Kenya.
Police responded with a heavy-handed crackdown, killing scores of Mungiki adherents.
"Kenyan police arrest members of sect blamed for murders"
(AFP, September 04, 2007)
Nairobi, Kenya - Kenyan police have arrested 17 members of the banned Mungiki sect, blamed for a string of murders and beheadings, while they were on their way to an oath-taking ceremony, an official said Tuesday.
The suspects, including three women, were nabbed Monday near Mount Kenya, about 130 kilometres (81 miles) northeast of the capital, said provincial police commander Philip Ndwiga.
Police also recovered an assortment of crude weapons, including machetes and knives, and five goats they say were to be slaughtered during the ceremony at the mountain still considered sacred by some ethnic Kikuyu elders.
"We intercepted them as they proceeded to the mountain. We suspect they were planning to take oaths and commit other criminal activities," Ndwiga said.
"They will be taken to court to face various charges, including being members of an outlawed group and holding an illegal assembly."
Once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who embraced traditional rituals, authorities say the sect has morphed into a ruthless gang blamed for criminal activities including extortion and murder.
Since March, the sect has been blamed for murdering at least 42 people, with 14 beheaded, mainly in Nairobi slums and central Kenya.
Police responded with a heavy-handed crackdown, killing scores of Mungiki adherents.
