Sunday Nation Team
25 August 2002
They came in buses and mini-buses, donkey-carts and on foot, descending on Nairobi streets from all directions on Tuesday morning in processions that caught many by surprise.
Some carried machetes, others rungus, others plain sticks as they converged, appropriately for their mission, on Uhuru Park to declare their support for the presidential candidacy of Mr Uhuru Kenyatta.
For an outfit that is ostensibly proscribed, the reaction of law-enforcement to Mungiki's virtual invasion of the city was peculiar. The police looked like they were actually guiding demonstrators carrying placards and snuff boxes to the venue, where speeches denouncing the Local Government minister's political enemies were made.
One of those in the Mungiki procession was Nairobi Mayor Dick Waweru, an ardent supporter of Mr Kenyatta. He was driven in a white mini-bus surrounded by youths donning Kanu T-shirts.
As Mungiki were marching, President Moi was in his office at Harambee House, on Harambee Avenue, the route the Mungiki marchers used.
The only forthright condemnation of the demonstration in official circles came from Attorney-General Amos Wako, who censured the police behaviour as a "serious dereliction of duty." But the minister in charge of internal security, Mr Julius Sunkuli, and Police Commissioner Philemon Abong'o, chose to remain silent.
The curious official stance over the Mungiki demo was brought into sharp focus a few days later, when supporters of the so-called Rainbow Alliance, which is opposed to Mr Kenyatta, were briskly dispersed from Uhuru Park by riot police. The Rainbow supporters, who were not even armed, have vigorously complained of government double standards.
Forcibly circumcise women
The boisterous Mungiki rally left the authorities in a spot, not the least being the fact that the sect-cum-political outfit is a poor PR prospect arising from its violent escapades and its crusades to forcibly circumcise women.
Even Mr Kenyatta, in whose support the march was being held, sought to distance himself from the demonstration, though he argued that anybody had the freedom to support whoever he wanted.
The police, too, quickly sought to explain their odd behaviour by saying that they had licensed the demonstration to individuals who they had no reason to imagine would turn out to be Mungiki. Some sources even insist that Mr Kenyatta may have actually been in the dark about the demonstration.
According to the police, those who notified the Kamukunji Police Station had indicated that the demonstration would be carried out by "Kanu supporters." The notification, sources say, was sought by a senior DP civic leader, a Nairobi Kanu official and an Opposition MP.
On Friday, Nairobi provincial boss Stephen Kimenchu announced that his officers were "looking for" Mayor Waweru and Juja MP Stephen Ndicho after it emerged they were behind the licence application. He said the two did not warn the police that it was Mungiki that was to hold the march. The so-called National Co-ordinator of Mungiki, Mr Ndura Waruinge, recorded a statement with the police last week.
At a press conference, Mr Waweru and Mr Waruinge chose to change tack. They insisted that the demonstration was not really a Mungiki one but the marchers were doing so "in their individual capacity as Kanu supporters."
Following Mr Wako's censure, police claimed that the Mungiki "were unarmed." Had they been armed, Mr Kimenchu asserted, they would have been "immediately arrested."
However, the marchers had been filmed and photographed brandishing rungus and pangas, though on the main they remained peaceful.
Mr Kimenchu even accused some politicians of sending armed people purporting to be Mungiki adherents and duping journalists to take their photographs.
The Mungiki demonstration followed a rally in Thika District where Mr Ndicho and Molo MP Kihika Kimani made some highly incendiary remarks. They were reported to have told Mungiki adherents to "deal with" people they claimed were "insulting President Moi." The reference seemed to be the pro-Raila Odinga supporters who heckled President Moi outside Parliament Buildings about a fortnight ago.
Mungiki was banned with 17 other groups in March after its members were linked to the killing of 23 people in Nairobi's Kariobangi Estate.
Since the ban, Tuesday's was the first time the group came out publicly, without running into trouble with the police. Interestingly, plainclothes policemen and intelligence officers freely mixed with the marchers.
Was censuring the group
It is inconceivable Mungiki members would have been allowed to step in Nairobi had they demonstrated in support of either Opposition or rebel Kanu politicians. Even as Mr Wako was censuring the group, Mr Waruinge was defiantly declaring that Mungiki would continue with demonstrations in support of Mr Kenyatta.
There have been accusations and counter-accusations among politicians, particularly those from Central Province, about those behind Mungiki. There is a widely held belief, which the sect vehemently denies, that its members are often hired by politicians to do dirty jobs.
Indeed, one Opposition politician from Nairobi says he has "worked with Mungiki people" and paid them for their services. But last week's Mungiki demonstration was condemned by all Nairobi MPs.
Speaking in Parliament in March, Embakasi MP David Mwenje caused an uproar when he accused President Moi and Mr Kenyatta of bankrolling the sect. He challenged the Government state why it was unable to contain Mungiki.
The controversial city MP claimed that Mr Kenyatta had in March conducted a harambee in Nyahururu in aid of the sect, and demanded that the minister explain his connection with the group.
The harambee Mr Mwenje referred to was for Njorua Secondary School. Mr Kenyatta was supposed to preside at the function but instead sent a Sh300,000 donation through Thika Kanu branch vice-chairman Paul Hato. Whether by design or by default, the Mungiki followers took charge of the harambee. As if to lend credence to Mr Mwenje's claims, Mr Waruinge told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme on Wednesday morning that Mr Kenyatta was actually a member of Mungiki.
However, in the evening, Mr Kenyatta denounced the sect, saying they did not win his favour by holding the march. He denied links with the sect, but added he had no control over any group that chose to demonstrate in his support.
Mr Kenyatta said that two years ago, Mungiki burned his effigy outside his father's mausoleum in Nairobi. Then, the sect members accused him of being used by the government to harass and intimidate them.
Relations between Mr Kenyatta and the amorphous outfit appeared to have thawed in March, just before the merger of the National Development Party and Kanu, when about 3,000 followers urged him to go for the top seat.
Sect leaders say "the peace-loving movement" does not rely on handouts from anyone. Its activities, he says, are funded through member's contributions. Mr Waruinge, who claims the membership at 4 million (a figure which to many looks bloated), says Mungiki gets its money from members' contributions.
Mungiki's political agenda, says Mr Njenga Maina, its self-styled chairman, is to campaign for youthful leaders and phase out the older generation. "That is why we are supporting Uhuru since he is young."
Mr Njenga said he would be seeking nomination for the Laikipia West parliamentary seat held by DP's Chege Mbitiru, a staunch supporter of Mr Kenyatta.
Westlands MP Fred Gumo challenged the Government to contain Mungiki during this electioneering period.
Describing Mungiki as "a dangerous organisation," Mr Gumo accused the police of being sympathetic to the sect and challenged Mr Kenyatta to go public about any possible links with Mungiki "because we are being told he is a member".
"If no action is taken, we shall have all the reasons to believe that it is behind it," he said, adding that the city politicians would then "have no choice but to stop Mungiki".
Former Cabinet minister Joseph Kamotho said Opposition politicians who threatened to use the Mungiki to unleash mayhem on anyone "insulting President Moi," are behind the outfit.
"The government should stop the activities of these militia-type of groups. They are dangerous," said Mr Kamotho, recently sacked as Environment minister.
But Mr Ndicho described Mungiki as a group of "youthful jobless Kenyans" trying to survive. "While I disagree with many of their practices such as female circumcision and sniffing of tobacco, I take it as my responsibility as a leader and a parent to advise the followers about positive cultural and social practices and good behaviour."
Nyeri Town MP Wanyiri Kihoro urged the President to ensure that Mungiki "are kept off the streets". He added: "President Moi has a duty in the twilight of his presidency to steer this country away from chaos and disorder so that he can have his retirement in peace."
He challenged the minister in charge of internal security to state whether the order banning Mungiki and other 17 groups "is enforceable in law because it has been treated with a lot of contempt by the groups he purports to have banned".
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