Nairobi — When members of the Mungiki sect staged countrywide protests last year to agitate for the release of their jailed leader Maina Njenga, they made a powerful statement about their strength and organisational abilities.

Not even the police, with all the intelligence mechanisms at their disposal, were aware of the planned marches, and the force was as stunned by the sect's antics bang in the middle of the city, and in broad daylight, as was everyone.

Lawless gang

The sect emerged two decades ago as a cultural revival movement, but it has metamorphosed into a ruthless, lawless gang whose trademark; extortion and murderous ways have blotted its otherwise noble goal. During the 2007 post-election violence, for instance, the sect is believed to have been at the centre of beastly revenge attacks in Nairobi slums, including forced circumcisions.

And, in May this year, the sect unleashed the most barbaric of violence against a sleepy hamlet in Mathira, butchering 29 people in the dark of the night and injuring scores others. The attack evoked memories of similar savagery in the Kariobangi neighbourhood of Nairobi in 2002 which led to an immediate ban of the sect and its activities.

The grouping has active cells in Central, Nairobi and Rift Valley provinces, even though its members are believed to have set up bases in almost every major town in the country. Its illegal tax regime earns it millions of shillings monthly and was cited as the reason of a public backlash earlier in the year which led to the Mathira Massacre.

Protection fee

In Kirinyaga Central District, for example, the sect demands a monthly protection fee per household, besides imposing a levy on every dowry payment in the area. A farmer who sells five litres of milk per day must surrender the value of one litre to the gang, and a poultry farmer must surrender four eggs for every 10 he sells.

Its hold on the public transport sector is stronger than the government's, and, despite numerous public pronouncements by the police against its activities and sporadic arrests of its members, the sect continues to man every matatu route in Nairobi, where matatu operators have to part with between Sh20,000 and 50,000 to put their vehicles on the road. Crews are also forced to pay between Sh200 and Sh1,000 everyday at various bus stops.